Eurolanche

Avs top Preds, Johansen scores in debut

Defenseman Tyson Barrie's power-play goal midway through the third period broke a tie and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Friday at Pepsi Center for their third consecutive win.

Barrie broke a 3-3 tie at 11:00. He was at the top of the faceoff circles when he ripped a shot past goalie Pekka Rinne with three seconds left on Miikka Salomaki's penalty for tripping Alex Tanguay. Barrie has three goals and three assists during a three-game scoring streak.

Jack Skille scored an empty-net goal just before the final buzzer, and Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves for Colorado (21-18-3).

Center Ryan Johansen, acquired by the Predators from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday, had a power-play goal 2:35 into the game and an assist on linemate Filip Forsberg's second-period goal. Defenseman Ryan Ellis also scored and Rinne made 22 saves for Nashville (19-15-7). The Predators and Avalanche each have 45 points, but Nashville holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference because it has played one fewer game.

Forsberg's goal at 16:37 of the second period tied the game 3-3. Forsberg scored on a shot from the left hash marks for his first goal in five games and 11th of the season.

The Avalanche had gone ahead 3-2 on Gabriel Landeskog's 10th goal at 7:40. Blake Comeau made a long pass to Carl Soderberg, who skated down left wing on a 2-on-1 with Landeskog on the right and Shea Weber the lone defender back. Soderberg passed across and Nashville's Eric Nystrom raced back to tip the puck, but Landeskog gained control and tucked the puck inside the right post.

The Predators tied it 2-2 at 2:45 of the period on Ellis' fifth goal. Mattias Ekholm fed Ellis in the middle of the left circle for a one-timer that beat Varlamov to the glove side.

After Johansen gave Nashville an early lead, Jarome Iginla and Cody McLeod scored 2:55 apart late in the first period to put Colorado ahead 2-1.

Iginla poked the puck inside the left post at 14:50 for his 12th goal of the season and the 601st of his NHL career, tying Jari Kurri for 18th place on the all-time list. With Craig Smith off for holding, Nathan MacKinnon took a shot that Rinne stopped, but Soderberg slid the puck to Iginla just outside the crease.

McLeod scored his seventh of the season at 17:45 after Skille outworked Predators defenseman Roman Josi for the puck behind the net. Skille passed to McLeod at the edge of the crease for a shot that went past Rinne's right arm.

Johansen scored on his new team's first shot of the game. McLeod was in the penalty box for charging when Johansen set up at the bottom of the left circle and beat Varlamov to the short side for his seventh goal of the season.

-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --