Coloardo 3, Vancouver 1

photo courtesy Chuck Stoody/AP

The impossible continues to be the norm as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks last night while the Calgary Flames lost to the San Jose Sharks, keeping Colorado in the race for the playoffs and closing the gap between them and the Flames to just three points.

Milan Hejduk scored all three Colorado goals and rookie phenom Paul Stastny assisted on each. Hejduk, who played like he was half asleep for most of the year, has scored ten of his 34 goals since February 27, when the Avs began their desperate run for the final playoff spot. Stastny, who set the NHL record for rookie scoring streaks at 20 games earlier in the year, has scored two goals and five assists in the last four games.

Still standing in the Avs' way are Nashville and Calgary themselves, not to mention a win by Calgary against Edmonton on Saturday that would mean the end to any remaining chance of a playoff spot.

The farther the Avs go, the more potentially painful a Colorado loss or a Calgary win becomes.

And still the question remains: Why the hell didn't Colorado win like this during the rest of the season? Why did they wait until game 65 to remember how to play like the championship teams of 1996 and 2001?

Part of me wants to be proud and impressed by the Avalanche, but the rest of me is nothing but frustrated and disappointed. Hopefully next season they can play like this from the very start. Anything less is unacceptable.