It is a natural question at this point for Avalanche players: What took you so long?
The Avs were in the “stick a fork in them” category a week ago, their playoff chances akin to the PBS “NewsHour” outpolling “American Idol” in a ratings contest among teens.
“The math is tough,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said, before a five-game road trip last week.
The math has suddenly gone from trigonometry to basic addition. Somewhere between Chicago and Buffalo, N.Y., the Avs pulled the forks out of their sides and got back into the hunt for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Despite a 3-2 win over the Eastern Conference-leading Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, the Avs (73 points) remain eight points behind in the playoff race. Dallas, Minnesota and Calgary are sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, in the West – all with 81 points.
Five of the Avs’ remaining 14 games are against the Wild and Flames. Colorado will take a five-game winning streak into its game Sunday at St. Paul, Minn. The impossible dream, all of a sudden, is doable. So, what took them so long to get things in gear?
“It’s not like we weren’t trying,” Avs winger Andrew Brunette said. “We’ve finally been able to sustain a little bit of a streak. I don’t know if the pressure is off of getting in or (if we) respond better to being loose, but whatever it is, it’s fun right now.”
The win over the Sabres made the scouts in the stands – from Detroit’s Mark Howe and Pat Verbeek to Dallas general manager Doug Armstrong – take notice. There was a buzz about the Avs that was lacking all season, not so much because they beat the Sabres, but the manner in which they did it. The Avs dominated for long stretches, including the third period, when they outshot them 13-4.
Rookie Paul Stastny, who has a 17-game points streak, is earning raves among the scouts, and Peter Budaj is looking like a bona-fide No. 1 goaltender. A porous defensive team all season, the Avs have found a more successful trapping system and are getting surprisingly good production from unheralded defensemen such as Kurt Sauer (29 minutes in Buffalo), Ossi Vaananen and Jeff Finger.
The questions linger, however. What took them so long? Is it too late?
“I don’t think it ever crossed our minds in the locker room that it was that far off,” Brunette said. “I think for us, we (stopped) worrying where we were and just focused on playing good hockey. It’s easier said than done, but that’s been our approach the last few games, and I think we’ve got to continue that.”
Asked if there was a moment that can be pinpointed for the club’s turnaround, Quenneville couldn’t cite anything specific, but said such a winning streak had been frustratingly just out of reach earlier this season.
“We had so many close losses and tough little things. We’ve been searching all year for that good run, and we’ve got one going now. It’s still going to be tough, but I like how we’ve responded, and we just want to keep doing the things that have produced it,” Quenneville said.
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
