Avalanche halt losing streak with overtime victory in Carolina

HIGHLIGHTS

GAME RUNDOWN

The Colorado Avalanche closed their five-game road trip with their second back-to-back of the last week with a contest against the Carolina Hurricanes just 24 hours after a loss at the Buffalo Sabres. Things started out well for the Avs as they outplayed Carolina up and down the ice early on. They eventually cashed in on the impressive effort when Tyson Barrie took a patient pass from Jarome Iginla, dangled around a desperate defenseman and outwaited Cam Ward to open up enough of the net to cash in, giving Colorado the 1-0 lead just under 14 minutes into the contest.

The lead held up until the final minute of play in the first period when Nikita Zadorov took a bad angle to a puck in the corner and Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner tracked it down and threw a low-percentage shot on net that somehow fooled netminder Calvin Pickard and squirted through his five-hole to tie the game.

The second and third periods saw the teams trade shots on goal, scoring chances, and power plays but to no avail. At the end of regulation, both teams had scored just the one goal and Colorado was leading in shots on goal, 34-29.

The Avalanche began the overtime session on a power play as Carolina’s Justin Faulk tripped John Mitchell as time was expiring in the third. Colorado managed to do absolutely nothing with the overtime man-advantage and the teams appeared to be headed for the much-maligned shootout.

Instead, Matt Duchene created a turnover in the defensive zone, carried the puck through the neutral and his speed created a two-on-one for the Avalanche. Duchene’s craftiness continued as he entered the offensive zone and made a perfect no-look pass to Mikko Rantanen, who one-timed the puck past a sliding Cam Ward. The game-winner gave Colorado their first victory in their last 11 road games and Rantanen became the third-youngest player in franchise history to score an overtime goal as a rookie.

THREE STARS

1. Mikko Rantanen
2. Calvin Pickard
3. Cam Ward

PLAY OF THE GAME

Rantanen’s overtime goal was set up by a great defensive play by Duchene, who started the rush by generating a turnover and capped it off with a perfect pass to Rantanen, who made no mistake on the game-winning one-timer.

BY THE NUMBERS

WHAT’S NEXT

Colorado returns home after a fast and furious road trip out east as they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday evening. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. local time.