Landeskog helps Avs rally past Predators
The official game recap Nashville Predators vs Colorado Avalanche.In a game the Colorado Avalanche never led in regulation, they rallied for a 5-4 shootout win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night.
Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals and added the shootout winner. He beat Predators goalie Pekka Rinne in the third round with a quick wrist shot.
Ryan O'Reilly tied it for Colorado in the second round at 1-1 with a wrist shot to the blocker side.
Nashville rookie Calle Jarnkrok, in his third NHL game, used a slick backhander to beat Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov in the first round. Varlamov stopped Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi in the next two rounds.
The win snapped a three-game skid for Colorado (0-2-1). The Avalanche (45-21-6) began the night three points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for second place in the Central Division. Colorado has played one fewer game than Chicago.
The Avalanche trailed by 2-0 early and then by 3-2 and 4-3 deficits late in the third period. Forty-four seconds after Nashville's Matt Cullen scored to put his team up 4-3 with 4:43 left in regulation, Colorado defenseman Nate Holden, skating down the left side off the rush, tied the game with a low wrist shot to the stick side. It was Holden's third goal against Nashville this season.
Cullen's goal was his second of the game; he converted a 2-on-1 feed down low from Patric Hornqvist.
Colorado's Cody McLeod tied the game with 7:35 left in regulation, putting in a rebound of his own shot with a backhander to even the score at 3-3. Matt Duchene earned primary assist with some strong possession behind the net.
Josi scored twice in the first period and Cullen scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.
Cullen scored for the second time in three games to give Nashville a 3-2 lead with 5:17 left in the second. The play started on a defensive zone faceoff, which Mike Fisher won. Ellis banked a pass off the left boards, sending Cullen in alone and he roofed a shot over Varlamov's right shoulder.
Cullen, who did not score between Nov. 28 and March 18, has scored twice in his past three games.
Josi scored twice in the first 9:49 of the first period for his 10th and 11th goals of the season to send Nashville out to a 2-0 lead. His slap shot from the left point beat Varlamov low to the stick side 3:33 into the game. Then off a faceoff win by Calle Jarnkrok, Josi flipped a shot from the blue line that eluded Varlamov thanks to a screen by Nashville's Gabriel Bourque at 9:49.
Jarnkrok, whom Nashville received from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for David Legwand, picked up his third assist in his third NHL game since Nashville called him up from the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League.
Colorado had been outshot 13-1, but scored on its second shot of the first period with 54 seconds left to reach intermission trailing 2-1. Nathan MacKinnon did some nice work behind the net, using his strength to keep a couple of Predators defenders away. In quick succession, he passed the puck to Paul Stastny, who left it for Landeskog and the Colorado captain scored on a rising wrist shot from 13 feet.
Colorado took advantage of a Predators turnover off a breakout to even the game at 2-2 with 11:19 left in the second period. Landeskog ripped a wrist shot from the high slot for his 23rd of the season, a career-high for the 21-year-old.
Nashville (31-31-11) fell to 1-6-1 at home in its past eight. The Predators began the day eight points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Predators had not scored more than one goal in a home game since Feb. 27.
-- by John Manasso for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
26/03/2014 - 04:00
