Eurolanche

Duchene has two points to help Avalanche

Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and Semyon Varlamov made 37 saves to help the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.  It was Varlamov's first win since Dec. 11. He had season-ending hip surgery Jan. 26.   

"I felt good out there," Varlamov said. "I felt confident out there. You have to stay focused all 60 minutes, the whole game because when you play against the Rangers, you never know. They have a very good offense."  Varlamov didn't allow a goal on 25 shots after the first period. 

"Varly was outstanding," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We don't want to get into a game where we are relying on him like that every night, but we are going to need him on some nights."  Defenseman Tyson Barrie beat goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle with 2:10 left in the second period to put Colorado ahead 3-2. Forward Alexander Kerfoot, who was making his NHL debut, got his first point with an assist.

"That was a sweet dish," Barrie said of Kerfoot's pass. "His patience, it's fun to watch. I just came in late and didn't even really call for it, he just put it on my tape and I fired it as quick as I could."  Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk had one assist and was minus-3 in 23:48 in his Rangers debut. He signed a four-year, $26.6 million contract as an unrestricted free agent July 1. 

"I think the result still stings right now," Shattenkirk said. "When I look back on it a long time from now, it will obviously be a great moment for me. It's still a special night in my career. But right now I think I am just a little upset with the result and some plays out there that I felt like I could have had a better effect on the game and helped our team out a little bit more."  Duchene, the subject of trade rumors since last season, scored at 5:29 of the first period off a pass from Patrik Nemeth to put the Avalanche ahead 1-0. He did not comment after the game.

Mikko Rantanen scored a power-play goal at 10:53 of the first to make it 2-0, but the Rangers tied the game before the period ended. "We're a young team and we're going to make some mistakes, but when [Varlamov] is on, it's crazy," Barrie said. Mika Zibanejad scored two power-play goals late in the first for the Rangers. He made it 2-1 at 17:28 after Varlamov made a point-blank save on Pavel Buchnevich but failed to cover the rebound, which eventually found its way to Shattenkirk for a pass to Zibanejad. 

Zibanejad scored his second of the game with two seconds left with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Mats Zuccarello to tie it 2-2. "It's a cliche, but it's a long season," Zibanejad said. "We did some good things out there today. I think we have some games coming up now in very few days and we can't dwell on it too much. We've got to take the good things here, practice tomorrow to work on some stuff and just regroup as a team. We can't beat ourselves down too much after one game."

New York forward Michael Grabner hit the post with 8:24 remaining in the third. Gabriel Landeskog scored into an empty net with 2.6 seconds left to make it 4-2.  Lundqvist made 22 saves.

-- by David Satriano for NHL.com --