Hurricanes Hand Avs First Road Loss

Carolina Hurricanes forwards Jordan Staal and Patrick Dwyer staked their team to a 2-0 lead, and goaltender Justin Peters made it stand up in a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Peters made numerous impressive saves among the 33 shots he stopped, earning his third win in four games. The Hurricanes (7-7-4) have seven points in the past four games, while Colorado (14-3-0) lost on the road for the first time this season (seven games).
Carolina linemates Staal, Dwyer and Nathan Gerbe each had two points.
The Hurricanes started the scoring with Jordan Staal's third goal of the season. Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped Gerbe from close range but kicked out the rebound to Staal, who shoveled a backhander into the net at 12:47. Dwyer earned an assist with a strong forecheck.
Colorado was outshot 11-5 in the first period, but the Avalanche still generated quality chances. Early in the period, Ryan O'Reilly's backhander hit the post, then PA Parenteau charged down the slot, only to be stopped by Peters. The goaltender also came up big against Paul Stastny on a goal-mouth scramble in the final minutes of a penalty-free period.
Carolina needed 26 seconds in the second period to strike again. Gerbe collected a puck along the left-wing boards and sent a pass to Dwyer in the slot for his first of the season.
The Avalanche got on the board shortly after the first minor penalty of the game. With Hurricanes forward Radek Dvorak off the ice for hooking, Stastny tapped in a loose puck that came to rest on the goal line at 14:34, following Nathan MacKinnon's shot from the slot.
The score tied Stastny with Dale Hunter for eighth on the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise career goals list.
MacKinnon finished with nine shots, which tied a franchise rookie record, set by Gabriel Landeskog two times in 2011-12.
Colorado pressed for more offense later in the second when Carolina defenseman Andrej Sekera took a holding penalty. The power-play unit buzzed the net for most of the two minutes, and the Hurricanes managed one clear. Peters saved his best for the final second of the penalty kill, robbing MacKinnon on the doorstep. Colorado had a 24-23 advantage in shots through two periods.
Dvorak left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury and did not return.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy pulled goaltender Semyon Varlamov with about 1:30 to go in the game, and he left him on the bench with 32 seconds left after Erik Johnson drew a holding penalty in Colorado's zone, resulting in a faceoff.
-- by NHL.com --
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13/11/2013 - 16:00