Glendale, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) – Danny Briere picked up the deciding goal,
coming with 1:44 remaining in overtime, which allowed Colorado to rally from
an early three-goal deficit and claim a 4-3 victory over Arizona on Tuesday.
Briere had possession along the left-wing boards deep in the hosts’ zone and
attempted a cross-ice pass to Zach Redmond, but the puck instead deflected off
the active stick of Martin Hanzal and slid past Mike Smith to end the contest.
Gabriel Landeskog added two goals and Matt Duchene tied the score for the
Avalanche, the basement dwellers in the Central Division who have won
four of their last five.
Calvin Pickard earned the win in relief, stopping all 25 shots over the game’s
final 52:23. Reto Berra started, but was pulled after allowing three goals on
eight chances.
Antoine Vermette, Michael Stone and Tobias Rieder lit the lamp for the
Coyotes, losers of two straight and six of nine. Smith made 30 saves in
defeat.
Landeskog finally put the Avs on the board shy of the six-minute mark of the
second period, and he stuffed home the rebound of a Nathan MacKinnon miss from
atop the crease to pull Colorado to 3-2 with 1:36 gone in the third.
Duchene’s scoring instinct took over on the game-tying marker. He tried to
sneak a shot past Smith from behind the right post. The puck caromed into the
air and somehow made it through Smith’s equipment, long enough for Duchene to
circle back and tap the disc over the goal line at the 4:05 mark.
Vermette beat Berra with a long shot through traffic with 3:36 played in the
opening period, and the hosts went up 2-0 just after the midway point when
Stone redirected a Keith Yandle shot.
Only 33 seconds later, Berra was chased when Rieder’s long slapper from the
left wing eluded his grasp.
Game Notes
After holding the Coyotes off the board on their lone power-play chance, the
Avalanche have not allowed a PP goal in their last five games, killing off all
seven short-handed situations. Colorado entered the game ranked third in the
NHL in penalty killing (88.3 percent, 68 kills in 77 chances) … Avalanche
forward Alex Tanguay missed his second straight game due to a facial fracture
suffered when he took a shot off his jaw last Thursday against Washington …
Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson left the game early in overtime and did not
return after taking a shoulder to the helmet from Hanzal — who was not
penalized on the play.
