The only way to describe the Colorado Avalanche as their season winds down is resilient. Facing the uphill battle of being 8 points out of the playoffs with 12 games to play, the Avs went into the Honda Center tonight to face the well-rested, league-leading Anaheim Ducks on the second night of a back-to-backthe playoff race. Despite a very slow start, the Avalanche would battle back and force the Overtime period before ultimately losing, 3-2.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, starting his second game in 24 hours, put in yet another outstanding effort with 37 saves on 40 shots. He weathered the early Ducks storm as Anaheim netted just one goal on 14 shots in the first period. Rookie Jiri Sekac would be the one to net that goal for the Ducks just 3 minutes into the game and it appeared the Avs were in for a tough night but Varlamov’s brilliance kept them in it.
Having survived the first period onslaught, the Avs picked it up significantly in the second period, outshooting Anaheim 12-11. Even though no goals were scored, the increased jump would keep the Avs in the game and their forecheck frequently mucked up the neutral zone and kept the high-flying Ducks offense in check. The evenly played second period was merely setting the stage for the fireworks to come in the third period.
Still down 1-0 going into the 3rd, the numbers working against the Avalanche were daunting. Entering the game, the Ducks were 28-1-7 in one-goal games and an absurd 25-0-2 when leading after 2 periods. Combined with the Avs starting the 3rd with 1:56 of time remaining on a Gabe Landeskog penalty and the task facing them was nearly overwhelming.
Cue that Avalanche resiliency as Ryan O’Reilly and Alex Tanguay combined to create two wonderful scoring chances on the penalty kill and set the tone that they were not going quietly into the good night.
Just 5 minutes into the 3rd, Matt Duchene outplayed a Ducks defender on the forecheck and make a picture perfect tape-to-tape pass to Jarome Iginla in front of the net where Iginla would bang home his 24th goal of the season.
Just under 2 minutes later and again on the penalty kill, O’Reilly would show his defensive chops once again as he gained possession of the puck and scored his 13th goal of the season on a short-handed breakaway.
Not to be deterred, the Ducks would respond almost immediately as Rickard Rakell would score his 7th of the season just under 2 minutes later on a mad scramble in front that led to Rakell going top shelf on Varlamov.
The Ducks would continue dominating play through the period as shots reached a total of 38 for Anaheim and 24 for Colorado at the end of regulation. Overtime meant another crucial point for the Avalanche.
Unfortunately, the sole point would be all the Avs mustered as Brad Stuart’s mishandling of the puck at the blue line led to a Corey Perry breakaway and one of the league’s top forwards wasted no time in beating Varlamov high on the glove-side just 1:25 into the extra frame. The OT loss means the Avalanche finish the night 7 points back with 11 games to play.
3 Stars of the Night:
- Corey Perry – Game-winning goal in Overtime
- Rickard Rakell – 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots
- Simon Despres – 1 assist, 2 shots, 3 hits, 19:52 TOI
