There's no margin for error, yet Jarome Iginla views the Avalanche's precarious situation as "a challenge, fun," not so much as pressure even though every game for the past several weeks has been so critical. This will be the case for as long as the team has a chance at a playoff position.
"I don't think it's a grind," Iginla said. "I think the games are more fun to play. When they all matter that much more and you can see the implications each day, it's a fun time to play. We don't think too much about it, what are the odds, where do we have to go in the big picture. It's just trying to keep playing well, trying to put streaks together, trying to make it a big streak."
The challenge continues Monday night in Calgary, the first of three games through western Canada. The trip includes stops in Edmonton on Wednesday and in Vancouver on Thursday.
Here are the game notes.
The Avalanche (33-26-12) are 1-0-1 against the Flames this season. They're 3-0-1 in the past four games overall, 6-1-1 in eight and 11-4-1 in 16. They trail Winnipeg by eight points (86-78) for the second wild card playoff spot in the West and are behind 30-24 in regulation and overtime wins, the tiebreaker.
It's also a big game for the Flames (39-27-6), who are third in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of Los Angeles, which plays at New Jersey on Monday. Karri Ramo will start in goal. The Flames are 1-2-1 in their past four games, including a 3-2 loss to the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on March 14.
"You look at the standings and it's more just keep focusing on ourselves and win our portion and give ourselves a chance," said former Flames star Iginla, who has three goals and an assist in a four-game streak, six goals and three assists in the past 10 games and leads the Avalanche in goals (24) and points (50). "We'd love certain teams to lose, but we know we have to get to a certain amount of points. We're focusing on trying to put our wins together and get up to 94, 95 , 96 points."
Problem is, that probably won't be enough to overtake the Jets, who have a commanding lead in ROW and will finish with 96 points if they split their final 10 games. The Avalanche and Jets meet one more time, April 9 in Denver.
"We're staying positive, trying to work hard and win games," Iginla said. "We've played better for a while now and we have to keep that going. We're just trying to get that next one, and right now we're trying to get that win in Calgary. It's a very important game, no question. We've had these games for a while and I think you get better for it. You get used to playing those type games. I think we're enjoying it more as opposed to putting too much pressure on ourselves. We still believe we have a shot."
Forward Jesse Winchester's regular-season debut with the Avalanche will have to wait. He practiced Sunday and was on the ice at the morning skate Monday, but he won't play against the Flames. He hasn't played at all since sustaining a concussion in a Sept. 30 preseason game in Calgary.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov will start for the 35th time in 37 games. He's gone 6-0-1 in his past seven starts with a 1.43 goals-against average and .956 save percentage.
Here's the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Alex Tanguay John Mitchell - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Dennis Everberg Jordan Caron - Freddie Hamilton/Joey Hishon - Daniel Briere
DEFENSE Jan Hejda - Zach Redmond Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Brad Stuart - Nick Holden
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra