Just another game? Hardly, even if that's the mindset Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is taking for Saturday's game against Minnesota at the Pepsi Center.
First, the Avalanche will retire Milan Hejduk's No. 23 jersey in a pregame ceremony.
Then, the Avalanche will take on the Wild, a team that has become quite the rival as Colorado looks to stretch its winning streak to five games and head into the NHL-mandated five-day break (and midpoint of the season) with the possibility of moving into the second wild card playoff position in the Western Conference.
"I think every game is big," Landeskog said Friday. "I'm sure you aren't expecting that answer from me, but it's true. I think every game's big. Obviously Minnesota is Minnesota, but other than that it's 'Hedgie Night' and we want to make sure that it's a good night for everybody, and that's with a win."
With a 21-16-3 record and 45 points, the Avalanche are just one win and three points away from matching last season's final totals of 22 wins and 48 points. They have gone 4-1-0 in the first five games of the homestand and are 9-3-1 since beginning December with four losses in a row.
The Wild (22-16-3) are in the second wild card with 47 points -- Dallas is in front with 49 -- and have played one more game than the Avalanche. Both teams have 20 ROW wins (regulation and overtime). Anaheim (19-14-9), which plays at Calgary on Saturday, also has 47 points but just 17 ROW.
There's still a half season to go and not every team in the West will be off next week, but even moving into a playoff spot on a temporary basis for now would be a significant accomplishment.
"Every game we want to do the best we can and move into a good position and move into the playoffs," Landeskog said. "Obviously we've done a good job of putting ourselves into the position to go into the bye week on a high note here, and winning five straight would be a good job on this homestand.
"So it doesn't matter who the opponent is, we want to keep this thing going. We feel good about the last four games, so we feel good about where we're at, but we've got a lot of work to do. (Saturday) is big and we want to keep this thing going."
Jonathan Bernier, who made 34 saves Thursday in a 2-0 win against Columbus, will get the start again as Semyon Varlamov recovers from a lower-body injury. He's won three consecutive games, two as a starter.
"You have to be able to win tight games," coach Jared Bednar said. "We want to stay away from the run-and-gun games, although we want to play with speed and be a dangerous team off the rush. But we have to be comfortable playing in one-goal games, low-scoring games, and find ways to win."
As for the Wild:
"It's a big divisional game," Bednar said. "We're right there with them, so it's a big two points and we want to keep this thing going. We want the passion and the emotion in the game for us. I think it's a good thing. It's one of those measuring stick games. They're back to full strength and we're a little beat up now, but it's a game on home ice, we have a chance to keep this thing going and go into the break on a high note.
"So it's big, and I don't want to take that away from our players. I think the emotion and the passion that we can come to play with should be able to help us."
The lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau A.J. Greer -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Nail Yakupov Colin Wilson -- Tyson Jost -- Gabriel Bourque
DEFENSE Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson Patrik Nemeth -- Mark Barberio Samuel Girard -- Anton Lindholm
GOALIES Jonathan Bernier Andrew Hammond