A perennial slow starter, Jarome Iginla has been scoring in recent weeks the way the Avalanche expected when they signed him to a three-year, $16 million contract as a free agent last July.
Iginla can't do it alone, but he'll have to continue finding the back of the net if the Avalanche are going to have any chance of making the playoffs.
The 37-year-old right wing has eight goals and six assists in the past 18 games after he had seven goals and 11 assists in the first 31 games.
"From the start of seasons I've always been a little slow, unfortunately," Iginla said. "You'd like to throw that out and have it not be the case, but more times than not it's been that way. You just have to stay positive.
"I think part of it is you get more comfortable with the guys, and guys get more comfortable with you on the ice and you build some chemistry."
Iginla scored his team-best 15th goal Tuesday in the Avalanche's 4-3 overtime loss in Nashville and is second on the club in scoring with 32 points, one behind linemate Alex Tanguay.
Tanguay has a goal and seven assists in the past nine games, four goals and 10 assists in the past 18 games, and 13 goals and 20 assists overall. He and Iginla were linemates in Calgary for parts of five seasons, so it made sense for coach Patrick Roy to put them together in Colorado.
“I love playing with him," Iginla said. "I’ve been extremely fortunate in my career to get to play with him. He’s as good a passer as anybody, and playing with him you know if you don’t get the puck, it wasn’t the right play because he’s always looking. I’ve been extremely fortunate and blessed to get to play with him, and it’s been fun.…
Matt Duchene's production has picked up recently while centering Iginla and Tanguay. He has two goals and an assist in a three-game scoring streak, with four goals and three assists in the past nine games.
"I think the biggest thing is a lot of us went through a tough stretch together at the start of the year," Iginla said. "Usually it's one guy or two guys, but a lot of us went through it and we're starting to come out of it. Hopefully we continue to grow and we get really hot."
The power play remains a huge area of concern. The Avalanche have failed to score on 13 consecutive power plays in four games and are 3-for-34 in a 12-game stretch.
"I think overall our 5-on-5 play, our breakouts and our puck control have been better," Iginla said. "There's definitely room for (improvement) on our power play. We're hoping that's the next thing to come. We're starting to feel better individually, and offensively we are getting that confidence back. I think that'll carry over to the power play."
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The Avalanche on Wednesday called up defenseman Stefan Elliott from Lake Erie in the AHL, giving them seven 'D' with Erik Johnson out with a knee injury.
Elliott certainly deserves the opportunity. He has 12 goals and 14 assists in 40 games with the Monsters and he played in the AHL All-Star Game on Monday.