Every Avalanche player would like to assist on Jarome Iginla’s next goal, and everybody affiliated with the franchise would like to see that goal scored at home.
But Avs coach Patrick Roy wants it to stop.
Stop focusing on the 600th goal of Iginla’s career, that is. Stop passing to Iginla when taking a shot is the better play.
The Avs had Sunday off, another day in a long stretch that has dragged on with Iginla trying to join the NHL’s 600-goal club. Roy wants that goal to occur naturally and not have teammates force it.
“I thought we had good intention, (but) I guess we focused more in seeing Iggy scoring that 600th instead of playing our game,” Roy said after Saturday night’s 4-0 loss to visiting Calgary. “We had a few good chances and we tried to pass the puck to him instead of bringing it to the net. For example, (Alex) Tanguay is all alone in front of the net and he’s trying a little (pass) to Iggy.
“We’re going to have to refocus. It’s not that I don’t want Iggy scoring his 600th, but we need to play our game.”
Iginla feels the same way. He would rather win the next game than become the 19th member of the 600 club. When asked if it has become a distraction, he said: “I hope not. Once the game starts, I don’t want (the attention). It’s not like there’s one game left in the year and we’ve already made the playoffs. We’ve talked about it. It’s not (about) looking for me. Play normal and if anything, you can use me as a decoy. There’s a lot of time to get (600).”
This week would be a good time to get it out of the way. The Avs host Los Angeles on Monday, St. Louis on Wednesday and Nashville on Friday. Iginla has been on goal No. 599 the past three games.
“It would be nice to get and make sure it’s not a distraction for the team,” he said. “Going forward, I’d rather not talk about it every day. We need wins and we need to climb back into playoff contention.”
Iginla played in his 1,431st game Saturday, tying Scott Mellanby and Luc Robitaille for 25th in NHL history. He is scheduled to tie Mike Gartner for 24th place Monday. Gartner and Robitaille are in the 600-goal club with 708 and 668, respectively.
Iginla is on the doorstep.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or @mikechambers
