The goal for the Avalanche in the final three games of the season: play hard even though they are out of the playoffs.
"We want to finish strong," coach Patrick Roy said after practice Monday. "We want to show our fans that we have pride and we're not happy about where we are as a team in the standings, no doubt about it.
"But one thing we've done all year, we had a good effort and we were resilient all year. I don't see why we would not be in those last three games. We need to show pride and certainly don't want to let down our fans."
The Avalanche (36-31-12) have gone from first in the Central Division, where a year ago they had 112 points, to last with 84. They'll end the season with a three-game homestand, playing Nashville on Tuesday, Winnipeg on Thursday and Chicago on Saturday. The Predators and Blackhawks are competing with St. Louis for top spot in the division, and the Jets are battling for a wild card position in the Western Conference.
"We're all competitors," Jarome Iginla said. "You build up rivalries over the years and some teams affected us down the stretch and I'm sure they enjoyed that, playing the part of the spoiler, and if we have an opportunity to do that we'll try and do that.
"We're all competitive and you want to win those games even if it doesn't mean anything in the playoff standings. We're a young team and we want to keep getting better and keep those habits and fight to the end and keep trying to improve and play hard in front of our home fans."
Roy said goalie Semyon Varlamov will start Tuesday and Saturday, with Reto Berra getting the nod Thursday.
Erik Johnson, Ryan Wilson and Jesse Winchester practiced while wearing red "injured" jerseys Monday. Roy said Johnson, who had knee surgery Jan. 26, won't play Tuesday and said he'd be "very surprised" if he plays in either of the final two games. Wilson (shoulder) and Winchester, who sustained a concussion in a preseason game and didn't play at all in the regular season, won't play in any of the remaining games.
Roy said he wants to continue to work on "game management" for the rest of the week.
"We feel that it's also part of the reason we're not in the playoffs," he said. "We talk about managing our games better, and these are details we are going to look at."
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The Denver Post reported that defenseman Chris Bigras, a second-round pick (32nd overall) in the 2013 NHL draft, completed his junior season with Owen Sound in the Ontario Hockey League and will join Lake Erie in the AHL this week, possibly on an amateur tryout contract. He signed an entry-level contract Sept. 17, 2013.
Bigras, 20, had 20 goals and 51 assists in 62 games with Owen Sound, with a goal and two assists in the Attack's five-game playoff loss to Guelph.
The Monsters (31-26-8-4) are five points out of the playoffs with seven games to play.