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Avs move to head of NHL class |
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Rick Sadowski
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Look who's No. 1 in the NHL. Will it last? Probably not, but for now the Avalanche boasts the league's best record with a 9-1-0 mark and 18 points, one more point than the San Jose Sharks (8-1-1).
The Avalanche used another terrific game from center Matt Duchene (two goals, one assist) and 15 third-period saves by goalie Semyon Varlamov, which included a huge glove stop against fellow Russian Alexander Semin on a third-period power play, for a 4-2 win Friday night against the injury-riddled Carolina Hurricanes at the Pepsi Center.
After missing the playoffs the past three seasons -- the Avalanche was last in the Western Conference a year ago and had the league's second-worst record -- no one could have anticipated this kind of start.
The Avalanche has matched the best 10-game start in franchise history; the Quebec Nordiques also won nine of their first 10 games in 1994-95.
"It's special," Duchene said. "I've said before, going from where we've been last year and the year before and the year before that, it feels great right now. But you can't be satisfied. We know how fast it can turn. We've been there before with a nice start and then slowed down in the stretch. So we have to keep going the way we are.
"We knew we had a chance to go No. 1 in the league tonight and you know, it’s a good feeling right now. Some of the stuff we have been through for the past couple of years has been tough and now things are finally falling into place. It’s still early, a lot can go wrong, a lot can change, but if we keep on this trajectory, I think we are going to like where we are at come playoff time.”
The Avalanche also wanted a quick start against the Hurricanes, who played Thursday in Minnesota and whose top two goalies -- Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin -- are on injured reserve with lower-body injuries. The Avalanche got it with an 18-8 advantage in shots and a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from defenseman Erik Johnson and Duchene.
The advantage could have been larger, but the Avalanche managed just two shots on goal during a futile five-on-three power play that lasted 1:47.
Johnson was listed as doubtful after getting hit on the foot with a puck in Wednesday's practice, but he pronounced himself fit to play after taking part in the pregame warm-up.
Interesting that Johnson used his skate to send the puck into the net at 11:30 to open the scoring. Paul Stastny slipped the puck up the slot as Johnson and Hurricanes center Eric Staal skated down the middle toward the net. The puck hit Johnson's skate, slid past goalie Justin Peters and the goal was upheld after a video review.
"I was just driving the net," Johnson said. "I pretty much stopped so I didn’t run over the goal line and the puck just happened to be at my feet. Lucky for me it was a legal goal."
Duchene scored a spectacular goal at 17:33 to make it 2-0. After Peters made a save against Ryan O'Reilly, Duchene gained possession behind the net. He made a spinning move against a Hurricanes defender and, with one motion, moved to the side and slid the puck underneath Peters.
"I saw a little bit of daylight in terms of a wraparound and I saw the (defender) coming to cut me off," Duchene said. "I didn't think it was going to work, but he bit on it a little bit and I was able to tuck it in."
The second period didn't begin well for the Avalanche. Drayson Bowman scored 12 seconds after the opening faceoff after a mix-up between Avalanche defensemen Nate Guenin and Ryan Wilson, but Duchene fed Alex Tanguay at 10:11 to regain the two-goal advantage.
Duchene scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season 36 seconds into the third period on a power play to make it 4-1. He walked in from the right faceoff circle and beat Peters with a wicked wrist shot.
The Hurricanes made it interesting after that. Jiri Tlusty came out of the right corner with the puck and passed across to Andrej Sekera for a one-timer that beat Varlamov at 2:40, and the Hurricanes continued to press for the remainder of the game.
With Patrick Bordeleau off for boarding Carolina's Ryan Murphy, Varlamov responded with a goal-saving stop against Semin at 11:35. After stopping a shot by Justin Faulk, Varlamov moved to his left to rob Semin's rebound attempt with his glove.
"It's always tough to play against him," said Varlamov, who made 15 of his 28 saves in the third period. "That was a good save to keep the game 4-2 and not 4-3. If they score the third goal maybe the game changes. He's very dangerous in front of the net and very dangerous on the power play."
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While coach Patrick Roy and Avalanche players are obviously pleased with the team's record, they continue to talk about how important it is not to start feeling overconfident.
"Well, we feel good," Tanguay said. "We feel that any time we step out there, we can win and it doesn’t matter who we are facing. We have found ways to win. We are building confidence and that's very important. We are happy where we are at, but we still have things where we have to improve. We still have to get better. We’re certainly going to need to play better in March and April than we are now, but we’re pleased with where we are at now."
Western Conference teams have been beating up on Eastern Conference teams -- the Avalanche is 6-1-0 against the East -- and things could change when teams start playing more games against division opponents.
"It's nice," Roy said of the Avalanche's start, "but you know what? If you look behind at the Western Conference, everybody's pretty close. So you can't have a night off. You have to be good every night. That's how we've been dealing with it."
The Carolina franchise hasn't won a game in Denver since it was based in Hartford, Conn., and called the Whalers. The Whalers defeated the Avalanche 3-2 at McNichols Sports Arena on Feb, 9, 1996.
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Johnson's goal was a fluke, but he'll take it. He now has two goals in 10 games after failing to score any a year ago.
Avalanche defensemen already have matched last season's meager total of four goals, and they've also produced 12 assists.
"Some of it is just bounces, some of it is luck," Johnson said. "A lot of it is Patrick instilling the confidence in us to go out there and jump in on the rush and make plays, to believe in yourself. I think he started preaching that at the beginning of the season and everyone has just had that air of confidence in their game and trusting their abilities and he’s instilled that in everyone and it has made a big difference.”
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