Eurolanche

Canucks top Avalanche

Sven Baertschi scored two goals to help the Vancouver Canucks defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 at Pepsi Center on Wednesday.

Baertschi's power-play goal at 11:46 of the third period, his 13th of the season, ended a 2-2 tie. Baertschi was in front of the net when he converted Henrik Sedin's pass past goalie Calvin Pickard.

The Canucks (23-20-6) moved one point ahead of the Calgary Flames into the second wild card from the Western Conference.

The Avalanche (13-31-2) have lost seven games in a row (0-6-1) and are 1-14-1 in their past 16 home games.

Colorado tied the game 2-2 on Matt Nieto's goal at 6:18 of the third period. Nieto scored from the right circle with a shot past Jacob Markstrom's right arm for his second of the season. Markstrom had 30 saves.

The Avalanche pulled within 2-1 at 16:28 of the second period on a goal by Mikko Rantanen, his seventh of the season and first in nine games. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov took a shot in the slot, the puck trickled between Marksrtom's pads into the crease and Rantanen poked it in.

Baertschi gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 6:55 of the first period when he knocked a loose puck behind Pickard during a goalmouth scramble for his first goal in nine games.

The Canucks made it 2-0 at 7:04 of the second period on a goal by Markus Granlund. He stripped the puck from Zadorov behind the net and tucked it inside the right post for his 12th goal.

Avalanche center Matt Duchene returned after missing one game because of a stomach virus.

-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --