Expect to hear this a lot in the coming 2 1/2 months:
“It’s the most important game of the year,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said of tonight’s Northwest Division matchup with the Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center.
Quenneville said that a lot in the second half last season, and things aren’t much different now. The Avs had to fight until the final week to secure a playoff spot last season and enter tonight’s game in ninth place in the Western Conference, four points back of the eighth-place Wild.
The Avs have played two fewer games than Minnesota, and have started to play better at home, earning points in their past four games at the Pepsi Center. But the team’s best winning streak this season is three games, and Quenneville is looking for more consistency.
“It seems like every team in our division has had a nice little run,” Quenneville said. “But we haven’t had that sustained run this year, where it could put us in a real good spot. We know we’ve got an opportunity, and hopefully we can build something positive.”
Tuesday’s victory over the NHL’s top team, the Nashville Predators, restored some confidence in the Avs’ dressing room, after a performance Sunday in Detroit that captain Joe Sakic called “one of the worst games we’ve ever played.”
The mark of a mediocre team is the inability to sustain anything from game to game. The Avs are battling to prove they are more than that. That’s why Quenneville said tonight’s game is so important, because too often this season victories over top teams have been followed by bad performances against lesser ones.
“It has a lot of meaning in a lot of aspects,” he said. “Last year was a good learning experience, knowing that every game was huge. In the process, we learned a lot about our team and a lot of it was positive. We’re in that same mode right now, with a lot of the same people. So, we’re hoping for good results and hope it’s the same good, fun process.”
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
