The Avalanche will have to wait until at least Thursday to clinch second place in the Central Division because the Chicago Blackhawks rallied late Wednesday to beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime.
The third-place Blackhawks scored with less than a minute left in regulation and early in the extra period to pull within two points (109-107) of the second-place Avalanche. The Avalanche, which plays in Vancouver on Thursday, has three games left, the Blackhawks two.
The Canadiens play Thursday at home against the New York Islanders, so coach Michel Therrien elected to keep several regulars, including goalie Carey Price, in Montreal rather than take them to Chicago.
A Blackhawks loss in any of their remaining two games -- or an Avalanche win in any of its last three -- will secure second for Colorado.
(By the way, was nice to see those "upper- and lower-body injuries" that prevented Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz, Olli Maatta and Brooks Orpik from playing Sunday in Denver miraculously healed in time for them to return for the Penguins' home game Wednesday against Detroit. Pittsburgh beat the Red Wings after defeating the Avalanche in a shootout, but plenty of fans eager to see Crosby's lone appearance in Denver were disappointed. Just sayin'.)
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The Avalanche, on a 7-0-1 roll and just two points behind first-place St. Louis, holds the tie-breaker -- 46 regulation and overtime wins to 43 for the Blues -- if the teams finish with the same number of points.
It was good to see Jean-Sebastien Giguere get the win Tuesday when the Avalanche skated to a 4-1 decision in Edmonton. Giguere is expected to retire after the playoffs and it was nice to see him go out on a winning note if it indeed was the final game of what has been a very successful NHL career.
"I'm happy with getting the win, it's a building that hasn't been friendly to myself or my team in the past," said Giguere, who improved to 7-12-3 against the Oilers in his career. "I don't know what lays ahead for me. This could be it for me, I don't know. I'm just going to take it a day at a time. There's nothing like winning in this league. It's a lot of fun."
Coach Patrick Roy will have an interesting decision to make if the Avalanche remains in the hunt for first place in the division and/or -- shockingly -- the Western Conference. He plans to start Semyon Varlamov in goal Thursday against the Canucks and Reto Berra on Friday in San Jose.
But does Roy change his mind about going with Berra if the outcome is still meaningful? Berra has been doing plenty of work with goalie coach Francois Allaire in practice, but he's played in one game since March 3, when he looked out of synch and made 22 saves in a 5-4 overtime loss in Winnipeg.
It's understandable that Roy wants to make sure Varlamov is rested for the playoffs, but at what cost? The question is moot if the Avalanche loses to the Canucks, which is certainly possible. The Canucks may be in disarray, but the Avalanche hasn't won in Vancouver since a 4-3 shootout decision April 6, 2010.
Roy already has said he would wait to see where the team sits before making a decision on Sunday's starter in the season finale in Anaheim. If the Avalanche is locked into second by then, Giguere will get the call.
The Blues' and Blackhawks' remaining schedules:
St. Louis: at Minnesota on Thursday, at Dallas on Friday and home to Detroit on Sunday.
Chicago: at Washington on Friday and at Nashville on Saturday.