Streak Snapped
Colorado Avalanche lost its second home-game of the season and scored only one goal in two games in Denver.The Chicago Blackhawks scored twice in the
third period Thursday night and rode the solid goaltending of Corey Crawford to
defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 at the Pepsi Center.
The Avalanche had a chance to tie the game
when the Blackhawks’ Brent Seabrook pulled down Ryan O’Reilly behind the
Chicago net with 2:13 remaining in regulation, but Marian Hossa scored into an
empty net with 1:10 to go, shortly after goalie Semyon Varlamov left his crease
for a sixth attacker.
The Blackhawks completed a sweep of a
two-game road trip and have gone 4-0-1 since an opening night loss to Dallas.
The Avs, who were coming off a sweep of a five-game road trip, has scored one
goal while losing its only two home games.
Patrick Sharp put the Blackhawks in front 2-1
at 7:20 of the third period with a blast from the left circle. Sharp was robbed
by Varlamov on his original shot, but he corralled the rebound and skated from
behind the net before beating Varlamov on his second try.
Varlamov made a big stop against Michael
Frolik a little less than two minutes earlier as the Blackhawks buzzed around
his net. A spectacular save against Marcus Kruger with 5:07 remaining kept the
Avalanche within a goal.
It took some good fortune – and nearly five
full periods -- but the Avalanche finally scored their first goal at home this
season at 15:27 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1.
Ryan O’Byrne was credited with the goal when
a shot by Matt Duchene deflected in the air and hit the 6-foot-5 defenseman as
he skated to the front of the net. O’Byrne attempted to knock the puck past
Crawford with his stick, but it bounced off his shoulder into the net for his
third goal in 199 career NHL games.
The play was reviewed to make sure O’Byrne
didn’t hit the puck with a high stick. The goal was O’Byrne’s first in 77
games, since April 3, 2010 against Buffalo.
Varlamov kept the score tied with a big
point-blank stop against Brent Seabrook, who was barreling down the slot and
accepted a pass from Jonathan Toews.
Toews gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 16:02
of the first period with a shot from the slot off a nifty pass from Daniel
Carcillo, who was behind the goal line on the left side of Varlamov’s net.
Crawford stopped all 13 shots he faced in the
first period and Varlamov turned back all 12 he faced in the second.
-by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com-
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
21/10/2011 - 05:53
