Vancouver Canucks rally in third over Colorado Avalanche 3-1 -NHL Update
Colorado managed to hold off Vancouver going into the third period tied at 1-1, but the Canucks broke loose in the final 20 minutes as they rallied to overtake Avalanche, 3-1, on Wednesday night, February 15, 2012, at the sold-out Rogers Arena in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada.
The visiting team’s veteran goalie, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, went out late in the first period due to an apparent groin injury and faced only nine shots in the opening 16 minutes, including a goal by Vancouver’s David Booth 13 seconds into the contest.
Giguere’s condition has not been finalised as of yet and any news on the player is not expected till early next morning when tests finalise his status.
Booth gave Vancouver something to hold on to as he fired his 11th goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season past Giguere in the opening seconds. Tensions rose between the two teams as Cody McLeod and Byron Bitz had a showdown
nearly five minutes later and were awarded a five-minute major for fighting.
Erik Johnson levelled the match for Colorado midway through the second on an assist by veteran Avalanche forward, Milan Hejduk, as they failed to capitalise on two straight Vancouver penalties in the period.
Entering the third period on a tie meant that both teams would be on the edge in order to avoid an uncertain overtime extension.
Vancouver saw the green light and Jannik Hansen made the tie-breaker at the 13:31 mark, giving enough time to Colorado to comeback but Alex Burrows secured the match with his empty netter at 18:56 as the Avalanche added another forward to get the equaliser.
Roberto Luongo had a near shutout playing in the Vancouver net as he blocked 29 of 30 shots while Giguere’s replacement,
Semyon Varlamov, diverted 20 of 21 in the 43 minutes he played.
Canucks now sit comfortably at second place in the West, 10 points ahead of third place San Jose sharks with 78 and are eyeing a third consecutive victory against Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday before kicking off their six-game road trip.
Colorado Avalanche has the next against Edmonton Oilers on Friday before visiting the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday before returning home.
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