Avs Aim To Hunt Down Flames In Playoff Race

The intensity of Stanley Cup playoff hockey is at a level that isn't often seen during the NHL regular season, but the homestretch of the main campaign might be the closest thing to it.
Every game is significant, and it seems like every contest is bigger than the previous as clubs duel it out for a postseason spot.
The Colorado Avalanche is in the heat of that race to the playoff and can better its chances to make the NHL's second season tonight as its hosts the Calgary Flames, a team that it is chasing in the Western Conference standings.

"We have to embrace where we are and enjoy being the underdogs in this thing, and our guys are excited. They feel like we can get in," said Avs head coach Jared Bednar. "We feel like we can get in. It's about playing the right way and having winning habits and continuing to try and enjoy the stretch run and stay part of this thing."
Veteran forward Colin Wilson has experience playing key games from late February to early April, as he's dressed in 47 career playoff games, including 28 over the past two seasons with the Nashville Predators.
"Every point matters," Wilson said of the matchup versus Calgary. "It's obviously a four-point night that people talk about. It's going to be a challenge, and I think it's going to be a great game."

The Flames are two points ahead of the Avalanche in the standings and are one point out of the second wild-card position. A regulation win this evening for Colorado can move the team into that ninth spot in the West, as it owns the first two tiebreakers.
The Avs have two games in hand on both Calgary and 10th-place St. Louis and have 32 regulation and overtime wins compared to the Blues' 31 and Flames' 30.
"I don't think a whole lot needs to be said to our room about getting them ready. They see the standings, and they know the importance of the game," said Bednar. "We just have to make sure they're loose and skating and working and not playing uptight, because when we do that, we tend to be standing around a little bit. We want to make sure we're skating and using our legs."
The Flames have won each of the first two games of the season series and won 5-1 on Saturday in Calgary. That score wasn't indicative of how the Avs thought they played as untimely turnovers led to rushes the other way and pucks in their own net.
Colorado will have the advantage of being rested in tonight's matchup as the Flames played at the Dallas Stars and lost 2-0 on Tuesday, but the Avalanche isn't expecting a tired opponent.
Calgary has the third-best road record in the league this year at 19-9-5 and is 5-1-1 on the second half of back-to-backs when losing the first outing.
"We've had some tough games in here against teams that you hope are a little tired and a little sluggish, but we haven't really seen it that much," Bednar said. "We've done a nice job at home in getting good strong starts and being the aggressor in games. That's been a key for us all year."

The Avalanche is the youngest team in the NHL with an average age of 25.5, and Bednar feels playing important games in March and April can be beneficial for his club's development in the long run.
"I think it is real important for our young guys to play meaningful games down the stretch, and we'll see how it goes," Bednar said. "The chips will fall where they do. In my opinion, we're playing playoff hockey already. We're under six weeks to go and if we want to get in we're going to have to have that mentality the whole way down the stretch because I think it is going to be a close finish."
There isn't anything quite like playoff hockey, but teams can't get there without strong performances in March and April.
"The pace picks up and the guys start playing a little harder," said Wilson. "It's like playoff hockey these last 20 games. It's an exciting time to play, and it's what you play for."

LINDHOLM CLOSE TO BEING ACTIVATED

The Avalanche won't make any lineup changes this evening, meaning Anton Lindholm's return from injury and Mark Alt's debut with his new club will be delayed for another game.
Lindholm took part in morning skate wearing a normal defenseman jersey, one day after doing the same at the Avs' optional practice on Wednesday.
"He could be cleared today," Bednar said of the young Swedish defenseman. "My thing is we just haven't had any practices with him. He's been out for a couple weeks now. Tomorrow we have a practice… He got to skate with the group (today) and tomorrow he'll get a good practice in and then we'll reevaluate our lineup come our following game."
Alt was picked up on waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, and Wednesday's pre-game skate was the first opportunity for Bednar to get a look at him on the ice.
He'll begin his tenure in Colorado as a healthy scratch but will likely draw into the lineup in the near future after getting some practices in.

PROJECTED LINEUP

92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
17 Tyson Jost - 13 Alex Kerfoot - 22 Colin Wilson
83 Matt Nieto - 34 Carl Soderberg - 14 Blake Comeau
57 Gabriel Bourque - 47 Dominic Toninato - 37 J.T. Compher
16 Nikita Zadorov - 4 Tyson Barrie
12 Patrik Nemeth - 49 Samuel Girard
15 Duncan Siemens - 5 David Warsofsky
1 Semyon Varlamov (Starter)
30 Spencer Martin (Backup)