Colorado Avalanche hold on to beat Vancouver Canucks 4-3
David Jones lit the lamp twice to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks at the Pepsi Centre on Tuesday night.
John-Michael Liles and Milan Hejduk each tallied a power-play goal and had two assists for the Avalanche, who have won three of their last four games. Craig Anderson stopped 40 shots for the winners.
Liles praised the way his side fought throughout the game. He said, "We battled back and I don't think we started quite as quick as we wanted to. But we got to our game in the second half of the first period. We picked it up and we battled back. That's a
tough team to play. We got some timely goals tonight, which was huge."
Ryan Kesler and Sergei Shirokov found the net for Vancouver, who have dropped four of their last six games. Roberto Luongo turned aside 26 shots while Alexander Edler scored a goal in the losing effort.
A disappointed Canucks Winger Daniel Sedin said after the game, "I don't think we played our best game but at the same time, we rarely give up three power-play goals and that's what happened tonight."
Edler got Vancouver on the board just two and a half minutes into the opening period, as he beat Anderson from the left circle on a power-play. It was Edler’s second goal in the last three play-offs.
However, it wasn’t long before Liles tied the game at 1-1 for Colorado on a power-play, as he launched a slap shot over Luongo’s shoulder and into the net.
Liles, who also added two assists, praised his opponents by saying, “They are a very solid team. You’ve got to fight for every inch out there.” He added, “Its two big points and we’re chasing them right now. It’s going to be a tough task to catch them by
the end of the year, but this is a good start and hopefully we’ll keep it rolling.”
After a slow start, the game heated up halfway through the second period, as the Canucks and Avalanche combined for four goals. Each time Vancouver managed to take the lead, Colorado answered right back.
Vancouver struck again for a 2-1 lead with a man-advantage half way through the middle period. The play was set up when Christian Ehrhoff ripped a one-timer toward the net. Kesler got his stick on Ehrhoff's shot and deflected it past Anderson.
Less than a minute later, Kevin Bieksa hooked Kevin Porter from behind on a breakaway, and gave up a penalty shot. However, Luongo denied Porter’s penalty to preserve the lead.
Jones tied the score at 2-2 on a power-play with seven minutes left in the second session. It started when Hejduk let go a wrist shot that sprang off the back boards. Jones collected the rebound and tipped it past a surprised Luongo.
“It was kind of a weird goal,” Luongo explained. “It’s tough to kill a 4-on-3 there; we almost had it, but fell a bit short.”
With less than two minutes left in the second period, Shirokov restored the Canucks’ 3-2 lead with his first NHL goal, as he deposited a loose puck through the legs of the Colorado netminder.
However, Hejduk drew the Avalanche even at 3-3 on a power-play just 63 seconds later, as he let go a wrist shot past Luongo to send the game into overtime. The Canucks out-shot the Avalanche 12-5 over the last 20 minutes of regulation time.
Canucks captain Henrik Sedin came in for interference 59 seconds into overtime. Just as the power-play was about to end, Tomas Fleischmann controlled the disc in the left circle and took a shot which trickled into Jones, who hit the puck into the net to
seal the win at 4-3.
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