Avs extend Wild's losing streak to seven
There is no such thing as style points in hockey.And
while it wasn't pretty at times Monday night at Xcel Energy Center, the final
result was beautiful for Colorado in a 4-2 win against Northwest
Division-leading Minnesota.
The
victory snapped a lengthy road losing streak for the Avs, who began the season
6-0 on the road before dropping their past nine games away from the Pepsi
Center entering play Monday. After winning their last four games before the
Christmas break, all in Denver, the win also extended Colorado's overall
winning streak to five games.
The
loss extended Minnesota's losing streak to seven.
Because
of the NHL's embargo on holiday travel, the Avalanche began the day in Denver,
and didn't arrive in the Twin Cities until early afternoon. By the time they
arrived at the arena, Colorado had just a couple of hours to get ready for its
first game in three days.
"We might want to try it more often," Avalanche coach Joe
Sacco said, joking.
Avs
defenseman Jan Hejda said his
typical game-day routine took a hit. In fact, he said he didn't even have time
to have a routine. But it was his game-winner with a little less than 10
minutes to play in the game that was the difference in the game.
On
the winner, Ryan O'Reilly fed a
nifty pass from the right half wall to a charging Hejda in the slot. He
one-timed the pass past Wild goalie Niklas
Backstrom to give the Avs a 3-2 lead.
"I felt the hole there and I felt he could make a
nice pass," Hejda said. "So I just tried to sneak in. I'm just
happy I didn't miss the net."
With
the multiple-day layoff, both teams seemed a bit off their game at times. The
Wild put just 13 shots on goal through two periods and were clearly taken out
of their game at times by Colorado.
Even
the return of captain Mikko Koivu,
who missed the past five games with a lower-body injury, wasn't enough to turn
things in their favor. He assisted on Minnesota's second goal, which gave the
Wild a 2-1 lead in the second period.
But
the Avalanche capitalized on a Mike
Lundin turnover behind his own net, as David Van Der Gulik tapped the puck
to Gabriel Landeskog, who wrapped
around an easy backhander to knot the game at 2-2 late in the second.
"Down one or two goals, we believe we can win a
game," Hejda said. "That wasn't the case earlier in the
season."
T.J. Galiardi scored less than three minutes after Hejda in the third
to provide the Avs with an insurance goal. Hejda was credited with the lone
assist on the goal.
"All-in-all, it was a big two points for us," Sacco said. "Especially
on the road. Now we can get that monkey off our back."
Just
5:22 into the game, both teams were forced to shuffle their line-ups for
completely different reasons.
Minnesota's
Jared Spurgeon was lost for the rest of the game when he was checked from
behind into the end boards by Avs winger Cody
McLeod, who was given a major and game misconduct while Spurgeon was seen
in the tunnel on a stretcher with what appeared to be a leg injury.
"I didn't like the hit one bit," said Wild coach Mike
Yeo. "On top of that, to me, it
seemed like something they were targeting. They hit him from behind two shifts
before that and I thought that one could have been called too."
While
calling the play a "bad break," Sacco said his team fed off the
opportunity to play short-handed so early in the game.
"I think it helped us change the momentum a bit
there," Sacco said.
The
Wild scored late in that power play on a goal by Pierre-Marc Bouchard for the period's only goal.
The
Avs tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period on a power-play tally
of their own, as O'Reilly tapped home a sweet point pass from Matt Duchene.
O'Reilly,
Galiardi and David Van Der Gulik all
had two-point nights for the Avalanche. Dany
Heatley had a pair of assists for the Wild.
Colorado
out-shot Minnesota 32-22 on the night as Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves to earn his 11th victory of the
season.
-by
Dan Myers for NHL.com-
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
27/12/2011 - 05:24
