Monday, November 30
Colorado @ NY Islanders 3-5
Cal Clutterbuck scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period to help the Islanders to a 5-3 win against the Avalanche at Barclays Center. Clutterbuck tipped Thomas Hickey's shot from the right point past Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov at 1:52 for his sixth of the season. The Islanders took a 2-1 lead in the second period on a goal by Mikael Grabovski before giving up the tying goal 41 seconds later on a shot by Jarome Iginla. Casey Cizikas and his linemates, Clutterbuck and Matt Martin, were on the ice for Iginla's goal. The Islanders scored three times in the third period. Varlamov allowed four goals, marking the fourth time in five games he has allowed at least three. Former Islanders forward Blake Comeau gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 10:20 of the first period. He skated around the net and attempted a wraparound that went off Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss' glove and over the goal line. It was Comeau's fourth goal of the season.
The Islanders tied the game 1-1 with 1.4 seconds remaining in the first period on a power-play goal by Kyle Okposo. New York had a 5-on-3 and Okposo took a pass from Frans Nielsen and put a wrist shot from between the circles past Varlamov. Grabovski made it 2-1 Islanders 6:31 into the second period on a nice passing play with Nikolay Kulemin and Ryan Strome. His backhander from in close went past Varlamov. Iginla scored 41 seconds later after the Islanders failed to clear the puck to tie the game 2-2 with a wrist shot from inside the blue line. Iginla's eighth goal of the season was his first in nine games and was his 597th career goal; he needs three more to become the 19th NHL player to score 600 goals. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene have been carrying the Avalanche, but the line did not have a point and was a combined minus-8. The Avalanche are in a stretch of 11 of 13 games on the road. They fell to 4-10-1 against Eastern Conference opponents. Following a 5-3 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, Colorado failed to win back-to-back games for the second time this season.
Cizikas made it 4-2 Islanders at 8:16 with a goal from the left point off a failed clearing attempt off the boards. It was his fourth goal of the season. Capuano was pleased with his fourth line. Colorado got within 4-3 with Varlamov pulled for an extra attacker on a goal from Nick Holden with 3:34 left, but Strome scored an empty-net goal with 47 seconds remaining to make it 5-3. Strome has four points in three games since being recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League last Thursday. Varlamov made 23 saves; Greiss made 25 saves in his second straight start. Duchene didn't score, but finished the month with 11 goals in 14 games, setting a franchise record for goals in November. Claude Lemieux had 10 goals in Nov. 1995. Josh Bailey played in his 500th game. He was selected by New York in the first round (No. 9) of the 2008 NHL Draft.
Patrick Roy: "It's not easy for [Varlamov]. Obviously we need that extra save and we didn't get it. It's hard to win if you're giving up four goals on the road. ... He's our number one guy. We had a really good start. I thought we had a solid first period, but they took over in the second and the third."
Matt Duchene: "[The other lines] did a great job tonight. We needed to do our job tonight and we worked hard and had some good chances especially in the first period but just weren't able to find a goal when we needed it."
Tuesday, December 01
Colorado @ New Jersey 2-1Patrick Roy believes one way to remain in the hunt for a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is to have two quality goaltenders. Though Semyon Varlamov might be considered Colorado's No. 1, Roy is always happy to see backup Reto Berra make a case for the job. Berra made 27 saves to help the Avalanche defeat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 at Prudential Center. Matt Duchene and Tyson Barrie scored in the second period for the Avalanche, who have won three of their past five. Berra, who was making his first start in five games, is 5-7-0.
Colorado, with Varlamov, lost at the New York Islanders 5-3 on Monday. The Avalanche had 16 blocked shots; five players had two. Kyle Palmieri scored in the third period for the Devils, who have lost three of four. Cory Schneider made 23 saves in his fifth straight start. Palmieri scored 2:09 into the third period to pull the Devils within 2-1. Travis Zajac won a left-circle draw back to Palmieri, who snapped a shot that dipped between the legs of Avalanche defenseman Nate Guenin and past Berra on the short side. Duchene and Barrie gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead. Duchene scored his Avalanche-leading 13th of the season off a snap shot from the right circle that hit Schneider's glove before trickling over the goal line at 2:10. Duchene, the NHL's Third Star for November, has five goals and eight points in the past seven games. Duchene, who had flulike symptoms Sunday and Monday, said he felt better against the Devils. He played 19:23 and was tied for the Avalanche lead with four shots on goal. Barrie scored his second of the season at 6:15 off a snap shot from the right circle that beat Schneider over the right shoulder. Barrie used John Moore as a screen. Berra made three consecutive saves late in the second period when Henrique took two quick attempts in the slot before Zajac jammed at the rebound with 1:10 remaining. Duchene said the Avalanche has confidence in each goalie but was glad Berra was able to snap his four-game losing streak during which he allowed 13 goals. Roy said Alex Tanguay, who has missed the past 11 games because of a knee injury, probably will return to the lineup.
Patrick Roy: "I love the fact Reto makes it a competition. This is how we will get back in the playoff race; we need solid goaltending and we're aware of that. But we still have a lot of confidence in [Varlamov] and we're confident he'll bounce back as well."
"That line (of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Duchene) is playing really well. They've really clicked and have played a lot of minutes. [Duchene] is always around the net, so there's no secret to his game. If you stay on the outside, it's hard to score because the goaltenders are too good, so you have to be in around the net and [Duchene] has beautiful hands. He's capable of roofing a shot from in close and I'm happy for him."
"Reto didn't have to make spectacular saves but he was sharp out there when he had to be and I thought he made a couple good ones in the second on some of our giveaways. Overall, it was a solid team performance."
"We don't have any rules regarding our defensemen; we like to see our defense jump in on the rush. We just want to make sure someone has them covered. Jack Skille made a nice pass on Barrie's goal."
Reto Berra: "I felt a big responsibility, especially after not playing [Monday], so I'm fresh and I want to give the team a good chance to win. We played really solid the whole game. The pucks were in and then out and the guys did a nice job blocking shots in front of me."
Matt Duchene: "I think the big thing is not to think about [scoring streaks] too much and focus on the foundation of your game. For me, I'm focusing on speed, going hard to the net and shooting a lot of pucks. I felt like maybe I could have had another goal [on Tuesday]. You have to stay hungry, that's the biggest thing. [Berra] was great. He made some big saves when we needed them. He's played very well for us this year and we needed him [Tuesday]. Obviously, it would be nice to keep it rolling but we need to put a little streak together here because we're kind of win-lose, win-lose right now. We got to see if we can get a win on Thursday and hopefully a win on Saturday (at the Minnesota Wild) too."
Phoenix Coyotes @ Nashville 2-5
Filip Forsberg broke a 2-2 tie at 4:49 of the third period on a snap shot from the slot. He retrieved the puck from behind the net, skated up left wing and curled into the slot before beating Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith. Forsberg scored again at 17:01, finishing off a 3-on-1 rush for his fifth goal of the season. He took a pass from Mike Ribeiro and one-timed it past Smith from the left circle. James Neal added an empty-net goal with 50 seconds remaining and Pekka Rinne made 13 saves for Nashville, who improved to 8-2-2 at home. It seems like Forsberg is rediscovering his scoring touch; after scoring twice in his first 21 games, he has three in the past three games. Ribeiro tied the game 2-2 at 2:33 of the third period when he intercepted a pass by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and beat Smith with a wrist shot for his third goal. Kyle Chipchura put the Coyotes up 2-1 at 17:09 of the second period on a wrist shot from in front of the net. Boyd Gordon delivered the pass from behind the net, and Chipchura was able to direct the puck past Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne for his third goal and 100th career point. Ekman-Larsson gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead at 17:20 of the first period. With the Coyotes on a power play, Ekman-Larsson took a pass from Max Domi and fired a wrist shot from the right point that went through traffic and past Rinne for his sixth goal. Calle Jarnkrok tied the game 1-1 at 12:32 of the second period, also on the power play. Jarnkrok was in the slot and redirected a pass from defenseman Shea Weber past Smith for his fifth goal.
Mike Fisher left the game midway through the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return. There was no update in his status after the game.
Colin Wilson missed the game with a lower-body injury. Cody Bass was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League to take his place.
Filip Forsberg: "It's kind of part of my job to score goals for the team. It's been frustrating, especially when we haven't been winning. As long as we win it doesn't really matter, but obviously it's always good to help the team get a win, especially here at home. I think we played pretty good during the first two periods too, obviously creating a lot of chances, but it's all about scoring goals. It was good for us to get a few goals and get the [win] there in the third."
Peter Laviolette: "There's games where we were just snakebit. Filip's been one of those guys. He'd walk out of there with eight, six shots on net and 11 attempts and not get anything to bounce for him. Tonight, he was real strong with his game. Things dropped for us in the third period."
Roman Josi: "I think [Jarnkrok's] been playing well all year. It doesn't matter if he's playing on the third line or second line or first line, he jumps in and makes an impact. He's one of those guys who's always in position. Speaking for us defensemen, it's always easy. You know [Jarnkrok] is going to be there, he's going to be in the middle, he's going to support you. He's been great all year."
Minnesota @ Chicago 2-1
Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 20 games, but the Minnesota Wild didn't let it keep them from ending a three-game losing streak at United Center.
Ryan Suter scored with 7:56 remaining and the Wild defeated the Blackhawks 2-1 for their second victory against Chicago this season. Jason Pominville scored and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves for Minnesota, which controlled the action for long stretches. The Wild didn't score on their four power plays, but used the man-advantage time to swing momentum back their way in the second after Kane scored on a Blackhawks power play at 5:21 of the second to tie it 1-1 and extend his streak. Three power plays later, the Wild were back to playing the way they started the game. It carried over into the third, when they played strong defensively in front of Dubnyk. Corey Crawford made 34 saves for the Blackhawks, who went 1-for-3 on the power play. Kane's 15th goal and NHL-leading eighth on a power play, pulled him within a game of Bobby Hull for the Blackhawks' all-time record of 21 straight games with a point. Kane's streak is the longest by an American-born player, but how it got past Dubnyk was a more popular topic afterward. Kane scored it after Duncan Keith used a slick stick lift to steal a puck in the offensive zone and send him a pass in the right circle. Unchecked, Kane carried the puck toward the net. He looked for a spot to shoot, took a shot and watched the puck trickle through Dubnyk's pads to tie the game 1-1. Dubnyk and Kane shared a smile about it later in the game. Kane had a secondary assist on a power-play goal by Brent Seabrook in the Wild's 5-4 win against the Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 30, which extended the streak to six games at that point. This one was one of the few bright spots for Chicago, which continues to struggle with puck possession. The Blackhawks went 3-1-2 during their annual "Circus Trip" that concluded this past weekend, but their play was erratic on the road. It led to Minnesota's goals, starting with Pominville's to open the scoring at 4:09 of the first. After not scoring for 21 games to start the season, he's scored in back-to-back games and put this one in by using extra effort. After sending a pass to Granlund, Pominville got the puck back behind the net by following a shot that slid wide of the left post. He wrapped it around the post before Crawford could slide over to save it. Suter, cleaned up a rebound of two shot attempts by center Mikael Granlund (two assists).
Ryan Suter: "We hadn't played well and hadn't played consistent in a long time, and now we finally put a game together. It's something that we can build on. We hadn't really been playing that consistent and now we finally got that."
Devan Dubnyk: "It's huge just to get back in the win column and play a really solid game. It's easy to start to look at the end result of the game when you've lost a few in the last little while. I think we did a good job tonight of not doing that and just keeping it as small as we could. Even though they get the one on the power play, we just stuck to our game and played a solid road game. That's what we need and we've got to continue that. All that time and space and he missed. I was laughing with him in the third. The guy's sniped so many posts, and that happens. We just kind of looked at each other [in the third]. I guess I can be part of his point streak now, or for the second time. I think I was part of the beginning of it too."
Mike Yeo: "I think the last couple of games have been two of [Pominville's] better games in a long time. I'm happy that he got rewarded, but he's playing the game very well right now. The fact that he scored is great, but it's far more important that he was on the ice at the end of the game when they pulled the goalie. When he's on top of his game, he's one of our solid defenders. He's a guy who's in good position and because of that he creates a lot of offense from that."
Patrick Kane: "It was a nice play by [Keith] to pick the guy's stick there and [he] made a good pass to me. I was trying to go high, actually. I kind of flubbed the shot. I was lucky it went in."
Joel Quenneville: "We haven't had as much [offensive-zone time] as we'd like. [We haven't had] that strength in the puck area, [protected] the puck, [been] hard going to the net, first to pucks, [or] relentless with our sticks in the puck area [or] battle area. We try to control the game in that area, making them defend, and [there hasn't] been enough of that."
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