Avalanche focused on finishing surprising season with playoff berth

LOS ANGELES --The Colorado Avalanche understandably were disheartened following their 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Monday.
Of the possible four points available in their back-to-back games against the Kings and Anaheim Ducks, they got one, in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Ducks on Sunday in a game they led 3-1 entering the third period.

Those two games were played without No. 1 goalie Semyon Varlamov, who is out for season because of a knee injury. They have been without defenseman Erik Johnson, their ice-time leader at 25:26 per game, since March 28, because of a season-ending fractured patella.
"Obviously we're down right now, but we've got a couple of days to shake it off," center Nathan MacKinnon said. "You can't really feel sorry for yourself."

What is important to remember is the Avalanche have hung around all season, and still are hanging around.
The Avalanche hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They are one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues, who lost 4-2 to the Washington Capitals on Monday. The Blues have a game in hand on Colorado.
The Avalanche play at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA+, ALT, NHL.TV), then face the Blues in the regular-season finale for both teams at Pepsi Center on Saturday.
A postseason berth could come down to one game, a spot few expected from the Avalanche at the start of the season.
At 93 points, Colorado is three from doubling its NHL-low of 48 from last season. They were 21 points behind the 29th-place team last season, the Vancouver Canucks, and it was the fewest points by any team in an 82-game season since the expansion Atlanta Thrashers had 39 points in 1999-2000.
The Avalanche are the first NHL team to record an improvement of 40-plus points since the Pittsburgh Penguins made a 47-point jump from 2005-06 (58 points) to 2006-07 (105 points).
"It's been an unbelievable year," defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. "All the boys are close to each other. We're like family … 25 brothers on the team. We go out there and play and we're just having fun. We stick (up) for each other. We've got each other's back. It's just fun to play hockey.

"Obviously there's pressure right now but that's why we play, because we like the game. We like competition."
They've been forced to call upon deep reserves of resilience all season, often a tough ask for a roster with an average of 26.2, youngest in the League according to Hockey-Reference.com.
There have been the injuries, and before that months of trade rumors surrounding forward Matt Duchene, which ended Nov. 5 when he was traded to the Ottawa Senators as part of a three-team blockbuster that included the Nashville Predators.
"We've had, since Duchene's trade, a lot of injuries," MacKinnon said. "Especially right now with (Varlamov and Johnson) out for the whole season. We lost [Johnson] for [13] games (upper-body injury) before that too … our best shutdown (defenseman), for sure. It's obviously been some adversity. But no excuses.
"We need a win Thursday, and if we can do that we put ourselves in a good position."
Johnson has been out of the lineup since playing against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 28. Varlamov sustained a season-ending knee injury in Colorado's 5-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
The Avalanche have turned to backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier for the final playoff push. He had a sustained period of effectiveness when Varlamov missed 11 games in January because of a lower-body injury, going 8-2-1 with a 2.09 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.
Since then, however, he's 3-3-1 with a 3.59 GAA and .895 save percentage in nine games, and his starts against the Ducks and Kings were his first since Feb. 11.

The Avalanche also are dealing with a lack of scoring. MacKinnon and linemate Gabriel Landeskog haven't scored in eight games. The third member of their line, Mikko Rantanen, had a goal and an assist against the Blackhawks on Friday but was held without a point against the Ducks and Kings.
"Everything was kind of going in the whole year and now it's just really tight," said MacKinnon, who is fifth in the NHL with 94 points (38 goals, 56 assists) in 72 games.
"Vegas, (the Kings), Anaheim, it's tough. They're definitely keying on us. We're definitely the heartbeat of our offense, so if they can shut us down they have a good chance of winning. We need to figure something out here."
They've got two games to figure it out, two games to get into the playoffs, a chance no one expected the Avalanche to have.