Colorado Avalanche Understand Importance of February

February is an important month for the Colorado Avalanche, and it’s not because of Valentine’s Day. (Though you can have Bernie deliver a Valentine for $250.) No, February is clutch month for the Avalanche.

The Colorado Avalanche face eight divisional opponents in 13 games, starting with tonight’s game against the Dallas Stars. They face conference opponents 10 out of the 13 times. Seven out of the 13 games are against opponents with which the Avalanche are jostling for a playoff berth. Those are some important games.

Luckily the Colorado Avalanche are well aware of that.

Perhaps no one knows better than veteran Alex Tanguay about making a playoff run while in an Avalanche uniform. Tanguay won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2001 — scoring the game winning goal in Game 7. Tanguay also made five other playoff runs with the Avs.

Tanguay said of Colorado’s current situation:

“We have to be desperate. We’re on the outside looking in, and in order to pull ourselves across that line where we’re finally inside the playoffs, we need to win some games and be desperate.”

Tanguay isn’t exaggerating about the need for desperation. The Avalanche are six points out of a playoff spot thanks to the Calgary Flames’ win against the Winnipeg Jets. Head coach Patrick Roy had a comment about watching the standings, though:

“It’s kind of funny because when you’re winning, you’re looking at it and when you’re losing, you don’t want to look at it.”

Indeed, coach Roy acknowledged that the Avalanche could use some help from other teams defeating their foes in the standings. However, he doesn’t really expect that to happen:

“We’re looking for help, but at the same time there’s over 30 games left. I think it’s good for us to focus on what we have to do.”

Both Alex Tanguay and center Ryan O’Reilly understand what winning games at this clutch time of year is going to take — hard work. In fact, Tanguay has observed:

“This is a situation where on most nights, the team that works the hardest comes out with the two points.”

O’Reilly is known for knowing the minutest details of the game. Ask him to evaluate an opponent, and he’ll tell you exactly what the Avalanche need to do to beat them because of the other team’s strengths. His evaluation of games against the Dallas Stars are no different.

First of all, O’Reilly believes the Avalanche cannot afford to take penalties because the Stars’ power play is so good. He added:

“If you give their top players confidence with the puck and let them feel it on the power play, they’ll start to perform better.”

The Stars’ power play is ranked 19th in the NHL, while the Avalanche’s penalty kill is ranked seventh. Indeed, their power play was so impressive against the Nashville Predators they prevented Nashville from even entering the zone for the most part, much less setting up and taking shots.