ANAHEIM —Going into Friday night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center, the Avalanche still is eight points out of the final Western Conference playoff spot — but the team in that spot had changed.
Los Angeles Thursday night pulled into a tie for the second wild-card spot at 90 points with Winnipeg, and the Kings have the tiebreaker because of more regulation and overtime victories.
Because he didn’t want to give the impression he has given up all hope on making the postseason, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy several times after the Friday morning skate politely said he didn’t want to look too far ahead and frame the final five regular-season games only as a final chance to make an impression heading into the future.
“I know it doesn’t look good for us, but we’re still mathematically in it,” Roy said. “I want us to keep playing the way we were playing before our last two games. I thought our compete level was there. Obviously, against Edmonton and San Jose, we had too many giveaways. I want us to still focus on what we want to do on the ice.”
Could this be a gut check?
“You do that process all season,” Roy said. “You don’t just go into the last five games and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to use those last five games to say this guy will be back, this guy won’t be back. You always try and evaluate your team. Every night, you play a game and see who will fit with who. But honestly, right now I’m focusing more on our games than what is going to happen next year. It’d be almost sad to hear a coach talk about next year before making sure that it’s over. To me, it’s not over. I know it doesn’t look good. I think I would send the wrong message if I was thinking about next year.”
Reto Berra will get his second consecutive start in goal for the Avalanche against the Ducks, who already have clinched the Pacific Division title, and Semyon Varlamov will be back in the net on Saturday against the Kings at the Staples Center.
“I asked Varly which game he would like to play,” Roy said. “He said he would like to play L.A., and I am comfortable with either decision. Plus, we just had off-ice yesterday and it would be good for Reto to play. He played the last game and it will allow Varly to have a good morning skate (Friday) and be ready. I wanted to split those two games.
“I always liked it when (Montreal coach) Jacques Demers came to me and said, ‘Hey, which game would you be more comfortable, and as a goalie sometimes you feel more comfortable in one building than another.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
