Vancouver, British Columbia – To spoil the playoff hopes of as many teams that legitimately have them. To play for the logo on the front of the sweater, not the name on the back. To play as if every night is for the Stanley Cup, not just an obligation to fill out the schedule on a season gone sour.
Those are the unfamiliar challenges for an Avalanche team that has 23 regular-season games left to play and is nine points out of a playoff spot after a 5-4 loss Sunday to the Vancouver Canucks.
Yes, the math says the Avs still can avoid missing the playoffs for the first time in team history, but the body language around the Avs’ dressing room is starting to say different.
Winning the Northwest Division seems hopeless now, at least. Colorado is 12 points behind Vancouver and comes home losing two of three games on the important divisional road swing, after an exciting start Thursday against Calgary.
“We’ve probably had 15 games like this, this year,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought we did a lot of the right things to win, but a couple of mistakes in the third hurt us.”
In a game in which the Avs outshot the Canucks by a 36-20 count and put forth another honest effort, goalie Jose Theodore couldn’t make the big saves for his team, nor cover up the mistakes of his defense at key times. That was never better exemplified than on the goal that broke a 3-3 tie for Vancouver early in the third period. Daniel Sedin, finally starting to blossom as an NHL star for Vancouver, scored the goal after Theodore and defender Ken Klee couldn’t coordinate their actions well enough.
After Theodore bobbled a loose puck in front, Klee tried to clear it out of harm’s way, but he seemed to hesitate for a second, not knowing if Theodore could get to it first. Klee swept the puck away, but right onto the oncoming Sedin’s stick, and he buried a shot into the open side.
“That was my (mistake),” Klee said. “I cost us the game on that one.”
The actual game-winning goal came from Vancouver’s Brendan Morrison, who beat Theodore to the near side, with Tyler Arnason in the penalty box for a dubious hooking call. For the umpteenth time this season, the Avs were beaten on a cross-ice pass to the weak side while on the penalty kill, resulting in a goal.
“Just a couple too many defensive mistakes, maybe,” said Avs winger Ian Laperriere, who scored with 13:56 to play to make it 5-4. “We didn’t get any points; we’re not happy. I thought we played a pretty good road game, but we get nothing to show for it.”
Quenneville said Theodore played “all right,” which has become shorthand that he wasn’t at all happy with his goaltending. The high-priced Avs netminder failed to help his team get at least a point on a night they put four goals past Vezina Trophy candidate Roberto Luongo.
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
