Say this for the Avalanche: they're hanging in there. Their chances of squeezing into that last playoff spot in the West remain long because they still need to leapfrog three teams -- Winnipeg, Los Angeles and San Jose -- and there are only 13 games remaining.
The Avalanche's 3-2 win against Calgary on Saturday before a raucous full house at the Pepsi Center pulled them to within five points of the Jets, who defeated Tampa Bay before the Kings lost to Nashville, but they don't play again until Thursday in Arizona thanks to a quirk in the schedule.
The gap is likely to grow before then because the Kings play twice before Thursday (against Arizona and Anaheim) while the Jets and Sharks play each other.
Eight of the Avalanche's next 10 games will be played on the road, and they'll play the final three games at home against Nashville, Winnipeg and Chicago.
In other words, the Avalanche (32-26-11) definitely will have earned a postseason invitation if they somehow manage to secure one.
"I'm very proud of our group, first of all because they've been resilient," coach Patrick Roy said. "We're not happy about the start of our season, but the one thing I'm going to say is that our guys have been resilient and even very receptive. I've been preaching the partnership and they've been great partners for me. Are we perfect? No, but we are learning. It is part of the process."
That "part of the process" mantra tends to get a little old, but these guys have managed to win five of the past six games and 10 of 14 -- all but two in regulation -- since losing four in a row in early February when it appeared their playoff chances were doomed.
They were 10 points out as recently as March 3.
The fact that the Avalanche have more than stayed afloat without so many injured players, the most significant losses Erik Johnson and Nathan MacKinnon, makes what they're doing even more impressive.
"We always believed in ourselves," Roy said. "The mindset of our players was, 'Let's get a shot at it,' and our guys have been playing hard and practicing hard and coming and being ready every time we touch the ice."
Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist against the Flames; John Mitchell scored what proved to be the winning goal in his second game on a line with Tanguay and Jarome Iginla; Ryan O'Reilly scored on a power move to the net for his first goal in 18 games; Matt Duchene had five shots; and goalie Semyon Varlamov extended his winning streak to a season-best five games. He has a 1.00 goals-against average and .968 save percentage in the streak.
And, for the third time in two days, Roy made a point to praise defenseman Brad Stuart, claiming he could have been awarded one of the game's three stars. Stuart played 22:21, had six hits and blocked four shots. Nearly four of his minutes were spent helping the Avalanche kill three Flames power plays.
The Avalanche have killed 26 of their past 27 penalties and 33 of the past 35.
"For sure, we'll keep an eye on everything else that's going on," said Tanguay, who tied Paul Stastny for eighth place on Colorado's career list with his 160th goal. His 456 points in an Avalanche uniform are good for ninth, two behind Stastny.
"But for us, it's about winning our games. If we don't keep winning we're not going to give ourselves a chance. Yes, we'd like to have some help from other teams, but we have to do what we have to do in order to give ourselves that chance."