Eurolanche

Canucks beat Avs again in 3-1 win

Hansen's one-timer with 6:29 left to play ended his 12-game goal drought and put Vancouver ahead for good in a 3-1 win against the Avalanche at Rogers Arena on Wednesday night, extending the Canucks winning run against Colorado to 13-0-2.

Stymied since David Booth opened the scoring just 13 seconds in, the Canucks finally got their second goal after a turnover in the Colorado zone ended up on the stick of rookie Cody Hodgson in the slot. His pass to Hansen inside the left faceoff circle was hammered over the shoulder of a sliding Semyon Varlamov.

Roberto Luongo made 29 saves and Alexandre Burrows scored into an empty net with 1:04 left as the Canucks avoided playing extra time for just third time in 11 games. Vancouver improved to 8-0-3 during that stretch and moved within two points of idle Detroit atop the Western Conference.

Erik Johnson scored for the Avalanche, which lost starting goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere to a groin strain with 3:54 left in the first period. Varlamov, coming off a career-high 41 saves in a 3-2 overtime loss to St. Louis on Sunday, took over and finished with 20 stops. But it wasn’t enough to keep Colorado from losing in regulation for the first time in five games (2-1-2), failing to make up ground in the West to stay three behind idle Phoenix for the eighth and final spot.

It quickly became a war of attrition for the Avalanche.

In addition to losing Giguere in the first period, top-six winger Peter Mueller was a late scratch with a torso injury, and fellow forward TJ Galiardi, back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in St. Louis, left early with the same. Top forward Matt Duchene, out since Dec. 29 with a knee injury, is traveling with the team on a road trip that continues in Edmonton Friday, but wasn't ready to play.

Neither were the Avalanche on the opening shift.

Booth started a breakout with a pass to Mason Raymond and, after he had the puck knocked off his stick trying to split the defense, Booth finished it by knocking the loose puck in past Giguere while being taken down hard by Ryan O'Byrne. It was Booth's 11th goal of the season, and his sixth goal and 10th point in just 12 games since returning after missing six weeks with a knee sprain suffered on a knee-on-knee hit that earned Colorado's Kevin Porter a four-game suspension.

The Canucks continued to press, peppering Giguere with seven shots, including several great scoring chances in the first six minutes. But after Giguere left during a TV timeout, it was Luongo that had to make the best save of the period, sprawling out with the right pad to rob Porter on a 2-on-1 with 2.7 seconds left.

Luongo didn't have much of a chance when Johnson tied it midway through the second period. Colorado captain Milan Hejduk, who passed Adam Foote for second place all time on the franchise list by playing his 968th career game with Colorado one day after his 36th birthday, had all kinds of time atop the left faceoff circle to spot Johnson alone atop the crease at the other side with a pass. He quickly snapped it past a sprawling Luongo for his second goal in as many games after only scoring once in his first 50 contests this season.

Varlamov kept it tied by throwing out his right pad to deny Booth on a breakaway five minutes later, but had no chance on Hansen's rocket for the winner.

Luongo, who had been to the shootout in six-straight starts, made a trio of good saves off Paul Stastny in the final period to finally avoid playing extra time.

-by Kevin Woodley for NHL.com-