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Pickard debuts with Varly, Berra hurt; Avs blow another lead |
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Rick Sadowski
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This was one of the strangest days and games the Avalanche will ever experience.
Playing with a rookie goalie, Calvin Pickard, making his first NHL appearance, the Avalanche committed a bushel of penalties and turnovers Thursday night while turning a 3-1 first-period lead into a 5-3 loss in Ottawa, leaving them with a 1-3-1 record.
First, goalie Semyon Varlamov took part in the morning skate, after which coach Patrick Roy said he was "questionable" for the game because of a groin injury. The Avalanche recalled Pickard from the Lake Erie Monsters in the AHL and put Varlamov on injured reserve in the afternoon. He has to remain on IR for a minimum of seven days, so he'll miss at least two more games -- Saturday in Montreal and against Florida on Tuesday at the Pepsi Center.
Reto Berra, who stopped 27 shots Monday in a 2-1 win in Boston, started against the Senators but had to leave at 2:46 of the first period with an undisclosed injury. He was hurt when Avalanche center John Mitchell, who made his season debut, pushed Ottawa's Kyle Turris into him. Berra lay on his back inside the net while being attended to by trainer Matt Sokolowski, eventually got to his feet and was escorted into the locker room.
Enter Pickard, 22, the Avalanche's second-round pick (49th overall) in the 2010 NHL draft. A 6-foot-1, 200-pounder, Pickard was born in Moncton, New Brunswick and he played four years with Seattle in the WHL.
He spent the past two full seasons with Lake Erie and was expecting to play Friday in Chicago against the AHL Wolves when he was summoned by the Avalanche. Roy said Pickard, who was 1-1-0 with a .952 save percentage with the Monsters, arrived in Ottawa between 4 and 4:30 p.m., about three hours before the game, figuring to be a backup for at least three games.
Depending on Berra's status, Pickard may be getting his first NHL start against the Canadiens and have to be pressed into action next week.
Roy said after the game he didn't have an update on Berra and would know more Friday. He said Varlamov, who made 37 saves Tuesday in the Avalanche's 3-2 overtime loss in Toronto, took treatment for a groin injury Wednesday.
The game? It started well enough for the Avalanche. Daniel Briere stole the puck from Ottawa's Bobby Ryan, and Nathan MacKinnon fed Alex Tanguay for his first goal of the season with a shot from the left circle that beat former Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson at 1:25.
Pickard relieved Berra a little over a minute later and Mitchell, who hadn't played since sustaining a concussion in an April 10 game against Vancouver, stole the puck from Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, moved in alone on Anderson and scored a shorthanded goal at 9:57 for a 2-0 lead.
The Senators got on the board at 11:01 after Curtis Lazar took a shot off a faceoff. The puck hit Pickard's stick, popped high in the air and dropped into the crease where Zack Smith poked it into the net.
But the Avalanche got that one back for a 3-1 lead on a power-play goal by Gabriel Landeskog at 17:38, his first goal of the season. It was Colorado's first three-goal game of the season.
It went downhill after that.
Colorado outshot Ottawa 17-11 in the second period, but the Senators got the only goal. David Legwand knocked in a rebound at 6:11 on a power play with defenseman Nate Guenin in the penalty box for clearing the puck over the glass. It was the Senators' fifth power play of the game.
MacKinnon fired a shot off the post with 7:15 left in the period, after which Pickard made two big stops after Avalanche turnovers. He made a save against Smith, who stole the puck from defenseman Erik Johnson, and he robbed Ryan with his left pad while moving from post to post.
The Avalanche mistakes continued in the third. Ryan tied the game 3-3 at 8:39 during a 4-on-4 situation after Johnson carried the puck across the Ottawa blue line and tried to force his way through two defenders. He lost the puck, the Senators went the other way and Ryan beat Pickard on a 3-on-2 rush.
Clarke MacArthur put Ottawa ahead for the first time 3:04 later after the Avalanche turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Colorado stayed within 4-3 by killing off Max Talbot's penalty for running into Anderson, but Chris Neil scored into an empty net with 1:22 to play to seal it.
Anderson finished with 28 saves after giving up three goals on six shots in the first period. He was 0-2-1 with a 6.32 goals-against average against the Avalanche before Thursday's game.
Pickard made 23 saves and said: "I was excited. You always have to be ready in this league and I got thrown right into it, two minutes in. It was probably a good time for a debut because you just didn't have to think about it. It was a fun atmosphere in a good Canadian building. It was a good experience, but I would have liked to get the win for sure."
"It was a tough situation for him," Roy said of Pickard. "He was coming from Cleveland this afternoon and got in at 4, 4:30. It's not an ideal situation for him. We cannot be happy about our game overall. With the lead we had 13 turnovers. If we do turnovers when you're up by one goal eventually the puck's going to end up in the net.
"We can blame it on the 22-year-old goalie, but we have to be better with the lead. We have to be a lot smarter than that. Yes, we like to see our 'D' very active, but there's times for our 'D' to put the puck deep and not forcing plays, especially when you're up by one goal in the third period. We didn't manage our game very well."
The Avalanche changed line combinations as the game wore on, though Matt Duchene continued to center Jamie McGinn and Jarome Iginla. MacKinnon moved to right wing on a line with Landeskog and Ryan O'Reilly. Mitchell started on the fourth line but finished centering the third unit with Tanguay and Briere. Talbot went to the fourth line with Cody McLeod and rookie Dennis Everberg.
The Avalanche went 1-for-5 on power plays and killed six of seven penalties ... MacKinnon had seven shots and two assists in 15:46 of ice time ... Mitchell played 13:02 and had two shots ... Iginla had two shots and was minus-2 in 16:21 ... O'Reilly has one shot in 18:31 and won 11 of 20 faceoffs ... Johnson, who was on the ice for the last three Ottawa goals, played 24:23 and had three shots in 24:23 of ice time ... Brad Stuart was even with eight hits in 17:55. He played 6:25 shorthanded.
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