The Avalanche hosted Hockey Fights Cancer night and skated away with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Pepsi Center. The entertaining, fast-paced game was won after the Avs put a perfect three pucks past Bernier on three opportunities in the shootout.
Despite the fantastic pace on the opening shift, the energy was sucked out of the Pepsi Center early in the game after an injury scare to former Avalanche and current Leafs forward Daniel Winnik. Shortly after the Avs took an early 1-0 lead, Winnik chipped the puck into the offensive zone but got tangled up with Jan Hejda at the blueline. Hejda cleanly took Winnik down but the 29 year-old fell awkwardly on the back of his neck and laid motionless face down on the ice.
Both team doctors came to his aid and he was eventually carried off of the ice on a stretcher. News eventually broke that Winnik was alert and moving all extremities. He would not return to the game but he also did not have to be taken to a local hospital.
The Avs goal was scored by Nick Holden after MacKinnon was stopped by Bernier. It was the blueliners first goal of the season and the fastest Avs goal to start a game this year coming at the 31-second mark.
The game would eventually pick right up where it left off after the lengthy stoppage. The Avs continued to press and leading the way was the line of Nathan MacKinnon, Jarome Iginla, and Gabriel Landeskog.
Iginla and MacKinnon would amount for seven shots before the midway point of the period. Despite a few close calls, Colorado just could not beat Jonathan Bernier for a second time. Phil Kessel would eventually tie the game for the Leafs and the teams were knotted at one at the first intermission.
Both teams would tighten up defensively in the second and slow the pace down. But regardless, they both added another marker in the middle period.
Toronto went on an early power play after Zach Redmond, playing for the injured Brad Stuart, was called for slashing. On the ensuing shift, goaltender Reto Berra lost his stick during a net-mouth scramble and had to attempt to make a save with just his body. Unfortunately, he was unable to stop Tyler Bozak who scored off of a feed from James Van Riemsdyk.
The goal was the first power play marker against the Avs since October 18th in Montreal. The streak of 29 consecutive penalties killed was snapped. But more importantly, Toronto had taken the lead in a game Colorado was dominating.
Instead of letting it suck the life out of them, the Avs kept their foot on the pedal and would respond quickly. Redmond would redeem himself for the penalty. He sent a long outlet pass from the defensive zone to Alex Tanguay for a breakaway. The veteran forward would beat Bernier on the forehand to tie the game just 60 seconds after the Bozak goal.
Minutes after Winnik went down in the first period, the Leafs lost defenseman Jake Gardiner who blocked a shot that hit him high on his leg where there is little padding. He tried to skate it off but was unable to return. The Leafs had to play with just five defensemen and 11 forwards for a majority of the game. This eventually caught up to them.
O’Reilly and Duchene would make magic happen just past the midway point. O’Reilly stole the puck—as he so often does in a game—from Stuart Percy and set up Duchene for a chance. He missed the net on his initial try but picked up the loose puck and wrapped it around and past Bernier for the go-ahead goal.
The Leafs would not go away. They pulled their goalie and tied the game with 1:16 remaining. Richard Panik scored off of a setup from Mike Santorelli.
It would extend the game into overtime. But not before Iginla and Robidas would both get sent off with four seconds left after tangling up in the corner. It would mean the overtime period would start off being played three-on-three.
The five-minute period was filled with entertainment and excitement. A couple more penalties were called and the man-advantage switched numerous times. But despite all of this, the goalies kept the game tied and primed for a shootout.
The Avs went with MacKinnon, Duchene, and Tanguay, and all three of them delivered. They were scoreless on five shootout opportunities before the perfect track tonight. The Avs won their fourth game of the season and received praise from their coach afterward.
“It’s an important win for us. We had 12 shots in the first, what, 10 minutes. Plenty of good chances and pretty good looks but their goalie made some good saves.” Roy said. “We gave them a couple of breakaways, but other than this, I like our game. I like our effort for 65 minute tonight.”
Coach Roy was also happy that his team responded well to the systematic changes made prior to this game.
“In the second period we had about seven minute of puck possession. It was our best all season,” he said.
The Avs moved to 4-6-5 on the season while Berra improved to 2-0-1. Once again, the Avs will have just one night to rest up before flying to Philadelphia for a Saturday night game against the Flyers. Puck Drop is schedule for 5 p.m. MT.
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