Varlamov, Avs shut out Blue Jackets
The official game recap Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Colorado Avalanche.Semyon Varlamov made 44 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, and defenseman Tyson Barrie had three assists to help the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-0 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.
Varlamov, in his 21st straight start, has 18 NHL shutouts, including three against Columbus.
The Avalanche (29-25-11) have won two straight and three of four.
Colorado took a 3-0 lead after the first period on power-play goals by a Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog and a breakaway by Matt Duchene. Alex Tanguay scored in the third period and had an assist on the first goal.
Columbus (27-34-4) has lost five straight at home and six of the past eight here.
The Blue Jackets have been shut out in two of the past three home games. The 44 shots are the second-most in their history in being shut out. The record is 54 in a 2-0 loss to Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes on April 3, 2012.
Blue Jackets backup Curtis McElhinney started but was pulled prior to the second period after making nine saves on 12 shots. Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves.
The Avalanche played their first game since it was announced Friday that 2014 Calder Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon would be out the rest of the season because of a broken foot. The forward had 14 goals and 38 points this season.
Colorado scored two power-play goals in the opening 3:51.
Columbus had Nick Foligno in the penalty box for tripping and Dalton Prout off on a delay of game penalty when Iginla scored his 21st at 2:05 from a pass from Barrie.
The goal was Iginla’s 1,211th NHL point, breaking a tie with Bobby Clarke for 43rd on the all-time scoring list.
Barrie had the secondary assist on the second goal, getting the pass to Ryan O'Reilly before he fed Landeskog at the side of the net. Landeskog wheeled and wrapped the puck around McElhinney.
Landeskog, who has 18 goals, has eight of them and five assists in the past 11 games.
The Blue Jackets settled down and were winning the possession game when Columbus left wing Scott Hartnell made a turnover that Duchene converted for his 17th goal at 9:14.
Tanguay made it 4-0 at 9:23 of the third period after taking a long pass from Barrie. Tanguay has 17 goals.
Referee Chris Rooney left the game 1:42 into the second period after being struck in the left leg by a shot by Avalanche defenseman Nick Holden.
-- by Craig Merz for NHL.com --
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08/03/2015 - 04:00
