Varly, Duchene help Avs defeat Rangers
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs New York Rangers.Matt Duchene stayed hot and Semyon Varlamov had a strong start to help the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
The Avalanche (11-14-1) have won back-to-back games after starting their current four-game road trip with a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Monday. They finish the trip Saturday against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
Colorado won despite a season-low 18 shots on goal. Its previous low was 22 (Oct. 14, 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins). Rangers goalie Antti Raanta made 16 saves. He had allowed seven goals in his first five starts. After starting his career 17-0-3 in his career at home, Raanta lost for the second straight time on home ice.
The Rangers (17-7-3) lost for the fifth time in six games (1-4-1) since their 13-1-2 stretch from Oct. 18-Nov. 23.
Duchene and Chris Wagner scored in the second period to give the Avalanche a 2-0 lead. They carried it into the final minute before New York got a 6-on-5 goal from Oscar Lindberg with 49.5 seconds remaining to slice the deficit in half. Raanta was on the bench of the extra skater.
The Rangers called a timeout after Lindberg scored, but they couldn't score the tying goal.
Varlamov finished with 24 saves. He allowed 10 goals in his previous three starts.
Reto Berra made 27 saves in a 2-1 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, but Colorado coach Patrick Roy said he went back to Varlamov because he wanted to instill confidence in his No. 1 goalie. It worked, but the Avalanche also played a strong game in front of Varlamov.
Duchene scored his 13th goal in the past 15 games after having one goal in his first 11 games of the season. Wagner's goal was his third of the season, each having come in the past five games. Duchene and Wagner scored on consecutive Colorado shots separated by 4:16 in the second period.
Wagner scored off the rush from the right circle at 13:21. Forward Jack Skille tipped defenseman Tyson Barrie's pass behind Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, allowing Wagner to skate onto it in the offensive zone before scoring on a glove side shot past Raanta.
Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello was late in getting back to cover for McDonagh and defenseman Dan Boyle was playing on the other side, guarding against the pass to Cody McLeod.
Duchene scored off a 2-on-1 at 17:37 with captain Gabriel Landeskog created off a turnover by Rangers center Kevin Hayes at the Avalanche blue line.
Colorado center Carl Soderberg forced the turnover and Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath was caught trying to defend the 2-on-1. Landeskog delivered a perfect pass out of McIlrath's reach to Duchene for a far side shot from the right circle past Raanta.
Barrie was close to scoring earlier in the second period when he had a chance from the lip of the blue paint, but Raanta came back across and made a right pad save to prevent Colorado from taking a 1-0 lead at 4:02.
New York had 13 shots in the second period, but most came from the outside. Defenseman Keith Yandle had two good looks off an initial shot from the right circle and a second off of the rebound in the slot, but Varlamov stopped them both.
Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson had a scare at 12:41 of the second period, when Rick Nash's skate came up and cut his face. Johnson, bloodied, had to leave, but returned before the end of the period.
-- by Dan Rosen for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
04/12/2015 - 04:00
