Colorado 4, Phoenix 3

The Avalanche finally reached 40 wins last night with a victory over the ever-struggling Coyotes, but remain seven points behind Calgary for the final playoffs spot in the West. The Flames have forgotten that they suck on the road and somehow keep winning. It's like they really want to play in the post-season or something.

As for the Avs, their win over Phoenix started well enough, with four unanswered goals in the first two periods. Said coach Joel (Dr.) Quenneville (Medicine Woman),

"We played perfect for two periods of hockey."

That's very true, coach. Unfortunately, there are actually THREE periods in a hockey game, and your team very nearly lost the game in the third one. In the final period, the Desert Dogs managed three goals of their own and twelve shots on goal, while holding the suddenly-inept Avs to just three shots. I'm no infallible hockey expert, but I'm pretty sure that if you're going to play any two perfect periods, they should probably be the last two, not the first two.

Almost every game it seems the Avalanche at some point forget what it is they're supposed to be doing (winning). They somehow manage in the end, but barely. Even if they make it to the playoffs, does this team really deserve to play in the post-season? Sure, they've been really successful in the past 15 games or so, but it's almost in spite of themselves.

The good news is Paul Stastny ended a five-game scoring drought with two assists, and Tyler Arnason continued his solid play with two assists of his own.

Now all that remains of the season for the Avs are games against Minnesota, Nashville, Vancouver and two against Calgary. No pressure.