Beauchemin's 2 goals help Avs top Isles
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs New York Islanders.Francois Beauchemin scored two goals, and Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves to help the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders at Pepsi Center on Thursday.
Beauchemin scored his second goal at 16:12 of the third period to break a 1-1 tie. His shot from the left corner caromed off Islanders center Mikhail Grabovski and behind goalie Thomas Greiss.
The Avalanche (16-16-1) have won four games in a row to move within three points of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They are .500 for the first time since Oct. 16, when they were 2-2-0.
The Islanders (18-10-5) have lost two games in a row after going 8-0-2 in their previous 10 games.
The Avalanche had a couple of good chances early in the third period. Matt Duchene shot the puck off the outside of the goal post with Nathan MacKinnon on the doorstep, and Erik Johnson had a semi-breakaway that Greiss turned aside with a pad save.
The Islanders tied the game 1-1 on a second-period power-play goal by Brock Nelson with Mikhail Grigorenko serving a hooking penalty. The Avalanche had trouble clearing the zone, and Nelson converted Marek Zidlicky's pass, beating Varlamov at 4:55 from above the left hash marks.
The Avalanche's best scoring chance in the second came at 11:00 after Beauchemin took a shot that Greiss stopped. Duchene got to the rebound on the right side while looking at an open net and shot the puck through the crease.
Colorado managed two shots on a futile power play that began at 15:20 with Anders Lee off for hooking, stretching their slump with the man-advantage to 1-for-26 in a 10-game period.
The Islanders have killed 26 consecutive penalties in an 11-game stretch.
The Avalanche struck first on a goal by Beauchemin at 3:48 of the first period. Andreas Martinsen passed the puck back to Beauchemin for a shot from the right point that beat Greiss high to the far side. Beauchemin has three goals and three assists in the past six games.
The Islanders outshot the Avalanche 8-1 in the final 10 minutes of the first and 14-7 overall.
Varlamov's best saves in the period came against Ryan Strome, who shot while in the lower left circle on a power play, and against John Tavares in tight on another power play.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
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18/12/2015 - 05:58
