Flames at Avalanche
THE STORY: After dropping their first six of seven games at home, the Colorado Avalanche showed some gumption and erased a three-goal deficit en route to a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting New York Islanders on Thursday. Colorado coach Joe Sacco saw the rally as a potential building block. "This is something that hopefully we can build on, especially at home," Sacco said. "This is where we have to establish some winning ways. In order to be a successful team, you have to play well at home." Jean-Sebastien Giguere echoed his coach's comments after delivering on what he originally called a "must win" versus the Islanders. "We've done enough talking, now it's time to see some action," Giguere said. "We have no chance ... in this league to make the playoffs if you don't (win at home)." Colorado will attempt to cap a brief two-game homestand against the Northwest Division rival Calgary Flames on Saturday. For its part, Calgary fell for the fourth time in six games with a 4-1 setback to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC, ALT
ABOUT THE FLAMES (6-8-1): Calgary's troubles can be directly linked to its offense, which has mustered just four goals in as many games. For instance, has anyone seen Jarome Iginla? The captain, who collected 43 goals and 43 assists last season, has just four of each and is a minus-7 in this campaign. In addition, Calgary's power play has lacked juice as it has failed to score in its last two games. Olli Jokinen scored his team's lone goal midway through the third period on Friday.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (8-7-1): Signed to a two-year, $2.5 million deal in the offseason, Giguere improved to 3-1-0 on the season with Thursday's triumph. As for his lone loss, well that came at the hands of the Flames on Oct. 26. Paul Stastny, who had the team's lone goal in that setback, has three goals and an assist in his last four contests overall. Stastny has recorded 36 points in 32 career games versus Calgary.
OVERTIME:
1. Calgary center Mikael Backlund made his season debut after being sidelined with a broken finger that required a pair of surgeries. He won six of nine faceoffs, but was a minus-2 in the contest.
2. Colorado wasn't shy about firing the puck on Thursday, launching a season-high 51 shots on goal. The amount was the team's highest output since recording 51 against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 12, 2002.