Eurolanche

Ducks win on late goal by Nick Ritchie

Nick Ritchie's goal with 2:02 remaining gave the Anaheim Ducks a 2-1 victory against the Colorado Avalanche at Honda Center on Thursday.  Ritchie scored his 11th of the season, beating Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard with a shot from the slot after the Ducks' Ondrej Kase took advantage of Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov's turnover in his own zone. 

Gabriel Landeskog made it 1-0 on the power play at 14:04 of the second period, pouncing on a loose puck that wasn't cleared. It was his seventh goal of the season and third in his past five games. The Ducks tied it on the power play at 7:17 of the third on defenseman Hampus Lindholm's third of the season. He beat Pickard on the stick side with a shot from the left point.  The Ducks (26-13-9) had come into the game on a 7-1-2 run. Their last loss in regulation was against the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 8.

Anaheim finished the game without forward Jakob Silfverberg, who, according to the team, was being "evaluated" in the dressing room. Pickard made 34 saves for Colorado (13-29-1). The game was delayed for about 45 minutes when a shot from Colorado defenseman Eric Gelinas broke the glass behind the Ducks net with 9:48 remaining in the second period. Arena workers scrambled to find another panel of glass, eventually emerging with one but it had to be cut to make it fit to accommodate the camera behind the net. 

The Ducks and Avalanche were sent to their dressing rooms for the second intermission during the delay. Officials had the teams play the remaining time of the period, followed by a dry scrape of the ice and the third period. Colorado was without defenseman Tyson Barrie (lower-body injury), who is considered day to day. Barrie is the Avalanche's third-leading scorer with 23 points.

-- by Lisa Dillman for NHL.com --