Panthers Pick´d off
The official game recap Florida Panthers vs Colorado Avalanche.Jaromir Jagr got his 1,850th NHL point in the first period to tie Gordie Howe for third place in NHL history, but Colorado Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard made 38 saves in a 3-2 win against the Florida Panthers at Pepsi Center on Thursday.
Jagr's milestone point came at 9:42 of the first period. He was above the right circle when he passed to Aleksander Barkov down low. Barkov slipped the puck through the slot to defenseman Erik Gudbranson for a shot that beat Pickard to tie it 1-1. It was Gudbranson's second goal of the season and first in 44 games.
Jagr's 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists) in 61 games lead the Panthers. He has 743 goals and 1,107 assists in 1,611 NHL games.
Pickard made 24 saves in the third period to help the Avalanche (33-29-4) end a two-game losing streak.
The Panthers (36-20-8) are in second place in the Atlantic Division after the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1. Each team has 80 points, but the Lightning have more regulation and overtime wins (35-30).
Florida applied plenty of offensive pressure in the third period, when it had four shots on a power play to start the period, the first eight shots and 13 of the first 15, and a 20-4 advantage in the opening 11:01.
The Panthers had a goal immediately waved off at 4:44. Video review confirmed the call on the ice that Pickard was pushed into the net after he made a save.
Florida goalie Roberto Luongo made a glove save against Nathan MacKinnon on a penalty shot at 13:13 after the Colorado center was hooked by defenseman Alex Petrovic, and he made a sprawling stop on Jarome Iginla at 14:00.
Matt Duchene gave the Avalanche a 3-1 lead at 4:55 of the second period with his 27th goal to match his career-high, but the Panthers made it 3-2 at 12:42 on defenseman Brian Campbell's sixth goal.
Campbell scored from the top of the circles after taking a pass from Jussi Jokinen, who was along the right boards. Campbell took a rising shot past Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog that sailed by Pickard's glove.
Duchene spun around Campbell near the right-wing boards, skated into the slot, moved by sliding Nick Bjugstad and his outstretched stick, and beat Luongo to the blocker side.
The Avalanche took a 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Landeskog and Mikkel Boedker.
Landeskog scored at 5:45 on a power play, 21 seconds after Petrovic was penalized for hooking. After accepting a pass from Tyson Barrie in his own end, Landeskog skated through the neutral zone, weaved by three Panthers and cut to his left. He lifted the puck inside the left post for his 16th goal.
Boedker gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 13:50, 4:08 after the Panthers tied it on Gudbranson's goal and Jagr's milestone point, which came four seconds after Colordao finished killing off Erik Johnson's penalty for tripping Kyle Rau.
Barrie had possession on the left side when he passed across to Boedker, who kicked the puck onto his skate and chipped it by Luongo's left pad for his 14th goal. It was his first goal in 13 games and first in two games since the Avalanche acquired him from the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
04/03/2016 - 06:00
