Holden goal helps Avs defeat Panthers
The official game recap Florida Panthers vs Colorado Avalanche.Defenseman Nick Holden scored a tiebreaking, third-period, power-play goal, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Florida Panthers 4-2 at BB&T?Center on Thursday.
Holden made it 3-2 with 8:57 remaining and one second left in Brian Campbell's high-sticking penalty. Holden's wrist shot from inside the blue line deflected off the stick of Panthers forward Scottie Upshall.
Tyson Barrie, the son of former Panthers player Len Barrie, had a goal and an assist, and Gabriel Landeskog scored for the Avalanche (19-17-9), who are 1-1-1 on a five-game road trip that will end against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday and the St. Louis Blues on Monday.
Jarome Iginla scored an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining; it was the 573rd goal of his NHL career, tied for 20th place with Mike Bossy.
Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves for his 89th victory with Colorado, tying David Aebischer for fourth place on the Avalanche list. Coach Patrick Roy is first with 282.
Aaron Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers (20-13-9), who were playing at home for the first time since New Year's Eve.
The Panthers were coming off a season-long six-game road trip, which included their first three-game winning streak of the season but ended with an 8-2 loss against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Florida's prior home game was a 5-2 loss against the New York Rangers on Dec. 31 that followed an eight-game home streak with at least one point.
This was the first of a five-game homestand that will end after the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Game, which is Jan. 25.
Roberto Luongo made 25 saves and tied Jacques Plante for 11th place on the NHL? list by playing in his 837th game. Luongo was pulled in the second period of the game at Winnipeg.
Barrie, whose father closed his NHL?career with 60 games for the Panthers in 2000-01, scored 2:11 into the first period when he took advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Panthers. After taking a pass across the blue line, Barrie was left alone to skate in and beat Luongo to the glove side with a shot from the slot.
Ekblad, the first pick in the 2014 NHL?Draft, made it 1-1 at 5:15 at the end of a 5-on-3 penalty. He scored just as Landeskog's tripping penalty expired with a shot from the slot that beat Varlamov low to the stick side.
It was the sixth goal of the season for Ekblad, the NHL?rookie scoring leader among defensemen, but his first in 15 games.
Landeskog gave Colorado a 2-1 lead at 12:02 of the second period. After winning a battle behind the Florida net with defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, Landeskog skated in front of Luongo and slid the puck behind the goaltender's legs.
Barkov answered 23 seconds later when he redirected Brad Boyes' centering pass from the edge of the right circle. Jonathan Huberdeau had the second assist on the goal, giving him eight points in five games.
-- by Alain Poupart for NHL.com --
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16/01/2015 - 04:56
