At the Rink: Avalanche at Flames

CALGARY -- Jarome Iginla spent 15-plus seasons trying to put the Calgary Flames into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now chasing the Flames as a member of the Colorado Avalanche, Iginla is hoping to put a dent in Calgary's playoff hopes to help his own odds.

"Being in the same conference and them being in a playoff spot that we'd like to have, it's not looking and just being happy [for Calgary]," said Iginla, who is set to skate in career game No. 611 at the Saddledome on Monday, a building where he has 268 goals and 302 assists all-time. "We're trying to catch them; we're trying to beat them. That's the game and that's the sport. It's the fun part. These games are important to win. They have a huge impact.

"It's a four-point game. It's a huge impact on the standings and for us, it'd be really big to keep moving forward and keep closing the gap on a big group of teams."

On a 6-1-1 run, the Avalanche have kept their postseason aspirations alive.

Entering Monday, Colorado has 78 points, eight back of the Winnipeg Jets, who hold the second wild card entry into the playoffs from the Western Conference. The Avalanche are also six points behind Calgary, who are third in the Pacific Division.

It puts a matchup against the Flames in 'must-win' territory, Iginla admitted.

"We've been in these for a while now and we all know the importance," the former Flames captain said. "Just looking forward to it. We realize that the games are going quick now and how much these games mean. We've been playing better and we'll try to keep that going.

"For a few months we've been playing a lot better. We had a real tough start as a group and we've been playing more consistent all the way around. Every part of our game has been getting better and the confidence is definitely up and growing. We'd like to keep that going."

Traded by the Flames on March 28, 2013, Iginla remains the franchise's leader in points (1,095), goals (525) and games played (1,219). His 570 assists rank second only to Al MacInnis (609).

And though Saturday marks the two-year anniversary of the trade that sent him to the Pittsburgh Penguins before a one-year stint with the Boston Bruins last season, Iginla's mark hasn't been forgotten.

"He was so important to this city for so many years and still is in many aspects," Flames forward Joe Colborne said. "When he walks through the Saddledome he probably sees his jersey more than anyone except for maybe [Johnny Gaudreau] and [Sean Monahan].

"He's definitely engrained himself into the culture of this franchise and now it's our job to go out there and make sure that he doesn't have any success tonight. I'm sure it will be emotional for him -- as I'm sure it is every time he comes back here -- but it's a huge two points for us tonight.

"We know that if we can win this game we can put some good space between us and them, and they know if they win they can close the gap on them and some teams. We all know how important it is, and it's only going to keep getting more and more tense as we get close to the end of the year."

Here are the projected lineups:

AVALANCHE

John Mitchell - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla

Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Alex Tanguay

Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Dennis Everberg

Jordan Caron - Freddie Hamilton - Daniel Briere

Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie

Jan Hejda - Zach Redmond

Brad Stuart - Nick Holden

Semyon Varlamov

Reto Berra

Scratched: Joey Hishon

Injured: Jesse Winchester (head), Jamie McGinn (back), Erik Johnson (knee), Ryan Wilson (shoulder), Nathan MacKinnon (foot), Borna Rendulic (leg), Patrick Bordeleau (knee)

FLAMES

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler

Lance Bouma - Markus Granlund - David Jones

Joe Colborne - Mikael Backlund - Josh Jooris

Brandon Bollig - Matt Stajan - Mason Raymond

Kris Russell - Dennis Wideman

TJ Brodie - Deryk Engelland

David Schlemko - Raphael Diaz

Karri Ramo

Jonas Hiller

Scratched: Corey Potter, Michael Ferland, Drew Shore

Injured: Ladislav Smid (upper body), Paul Byron (lower body), Mark Giordano (torn biceps tendon)

Status update: Varlamov is expected to make his 27th start in the past 28 games…After missing the past two games and three of the past five, Jooris is expected back for Calgary. Ramo has started 11 of the past 13 games. Douglas Murray remains with the Flames on a tryout basis.

Who's hot: Iginla has three goals and an assist as part of a four-game point-scoring streak for the Avalanche. In his past seven starts Varlamov is 6-0-1 with a 1.43 GAA and .956 save percentage…Monahan has goals in back-to-back games for Calgary, has scored five times in his past six games and 12 in the past 17 games.