Avs move ahead of Hawks with victory
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs Chicago Blackhawks.In what might have been a Stanley Cup Playoff preview Wednesday at Pepsi Center, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 and moved into second place in the Central Division.
Colorado (43-18-5) took a one-point lead (91-90) on Chicago (38-14-14) with 16 games left in the regular season. The Avalanche won four of five games between the teams.
The Blackhawks closed within 3-2 with 2:17 left in regulation when Brandon Saad knocked in the rebound of Andrew Shaw's shot during a goalmouth scramble 15 seconds after goalie Antti Raanta left the ice for a sixth attacker.
Raanta went to the bench again with 1:34 remaining, but the Avalanche held on. Goalie Semyon Varlamov made a stop against Saad with 4.9 seconds to play and finished with 37 saves.
The Avalanche snapped an 0-for-13 drought on power plays at 10:53 of the third period when Ryan O'Reilly scored on a 5-on-3 advantage for a 3-1 lead.
Matt Duchene, who scored a second-period goal, took a shot from low in the right circle that Raanta stopped, but O'Reilly handled the rebound at the edge of the crease and swept it in for his team-high 25th goal.
The goal came with five seconds left on the two-man advantage with Andrew Shaw (interference) and Marcus Kruger (delay of game) in the penalty box.
The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead on goals from Brad Malone late in the first period and by Duchene early in the second.
Malone was recalled from Lake Erie in the American Hockey League on Wednesday, along with rookie Paul Carey, because the Avalanche were down to 10 forwards with PA Parenteau (knee) and Paul Stastny (back) out with injuries.
Malone bounced the puck to himself off the boards in the neutral zone, skated down left wing and took a shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle that handcuffed Raanta and wound up in the net at 18:24.
Duchene was alone in the right circle when he fired the puck by Raanta at 19 seconds of the second period for the 2-0 lead. The goal extended Duchene's scoring streak to nine games. He has five goals and nine assists in the streak.
The Blackhawks outshot the Avalanche 14-8 in the second period and got on the board at 8:23 when Patrick Kane scored his 29th goal of the season, tying Patrick Sharp for the team lead.
Kane skated down right wing, put a move on Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda and beat Varlamov to the short side for his second goal in two games.
Duchene had what looked to be a good scoring chance when he cut to the net, only to be taken out by Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya.
The Blackhawks had seven shots on three power plays after two periods, while the Avalanche had four shots on two power plays, with all four shots coming in the opening two minutes with Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith serving a roughing penalty.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
13/03/2014 - 05:00
