Avalanche blank Predators
Official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs. Nashville PredatorsGoalie Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Nashville Predators 3-0 at Pepsi Center on Friday.
It was the fourth shutout of the season for Varlamov, who has 17 in his NHL career.
Nathan MacKinnon set up Gabriel Landeskog for an empty-net goal with 1:11 remaining in regulation. It was MacKinnon's second assist of the game.
Colorado also got goals from Jarome Iginla and Maxime Talbot.
The Avalanche (21-18-11) have won four consecutive home games and are 12-5-5 since Dec. 11. The Predators (31-11-6) are 0-1-1 in the first two of a three-game road trip.
Iginla put the Avalanche in front 2-0 at 5:54 of the third period, six seconds after the Predators killed off Mattias Ekholm's penalty for hooking MacKinnon.
Iginla was in the slot when he accepted a pass from Matt Duchene and took a quick shot past goalie Marek Mazanec with Predators defenseman Seth Jones in front. The goal was the 1,200th point of his NHL career.
Iginla has scored a goal in three consecutive games and leads the Avalanche with 16.
The Predators went on their second power play of the game at 18:41 of the second period when Shea Weber was hooked by Cody McLeod while skating out of the Avalanche end. The advantage carried into the third period, and Colorado finished killing it off.
McLeod became the fourth player in Quebec Nordiques/Avalanche franchise history to reach 100 penalty minutes in a season seven times.
Center Mike Ribeiro, the Predators' leading scorer, was given a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct at 6:33 of the third period.
Varlamov faced 15 shots through two periods. The Predators' best chance came at 6:15 of the second when Gabriel Bourque skate in alone, but Varlamov was able to poke the puck away with his stick before Bourque could take a shot.
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead at 13:49 of the first period on a goal by Talbot. Ryan O'Reilly passed from the left side to MacKinnon near the right crease for a shot that Mazanec stopped. The rebound bounced into the slot, and Talbot swept it into an open net.
The goal came 26 seconds after the Predators killed off an Avalanche power play.
Mazanec made his first start and second appearance of the season. He relieved Carter Hutton in the third period Jan. 17 against the Detroit Red Wings and made 18 saves in a 5-2 loss.
--by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com--
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
31/01/2015 - 05:50
