I'm not so sure how effective the Avalanche's new zone defense system was Thursday, but they did manage to defeat Toronto 4-3 in a shootout at the Pepsi Center.
Frankly, the best news of the night is that Leafs forward
Daniel Winnik apparently is OK after his head slammed on the ice following a collision with Avalanche defenseman
Jan Hejda 45 seconds into the game. Thankfully, Winnik's helmet stayed on, but he was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher after he lay on the ice for several minutes.
Here's my
NHL.com story
on Winnik and comments from Leafs coach
Randy Carlyle that "he's fine, he says there's nothing wrong with him." Winnik was up and walking around in the locker room when the team entered for the first intermission.
The Leafs also lost defenseman
Jake Gardiner in the first period with what Carlyle said was a "deep bone bruise" after he blocked a shot.
As for the game, the Avalanche (4-6-5) survived the Leafs' late tying goal to end a losing streak that reached three games, picked up their first win in six attempts after regulation and salvaged the finale of a three-game homestand. The Avalanche open a four-game road trip Saturday in Philadelphia.
"It's a big win, an important win for us," Avalanche coach
Patrick Roy said. "I thought we had a great game, especially the start of the game we were outstanding. We had plenty of chances and their goalie (
Jonathan Bernier) made some good saves."
But not in the shootout.
Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and
Alex Tanguay scored against him, while Avalanche goalie
Reto Berra forced
James van Riemsdyk to shoot wide in the second round after
Tyler Bozak scored in the first round.
The Avalanche outshot the Leafs 4-2 in the overtime, a large portion of which was played three skaters aside because of penalties. Each team had a 15-second power play in the extra period.
The Leafs tied the game with 1:16 remaining in regulation -- 10 seconds after Bernier went to the bench for an extra attacker -- when
Richard Panik took a shot that caromed into the net off Avalanche defenseman
Nate Guenin's skate.
"It seems like that's our luck this year," Duchene said. "We do so much to score and we can't get anything to go, we only get a few to go and they pull the goalie and we have guys in great position and it hits (Guenin's skate) and goes in. It was going four feet wide.
"The nice thing about it is we're so used to bounces by this point in the season and they don't really faze us anymore. We don't expect them, but when they happen it's kind of like, 'OK, well, we have another challenge here."
Said Berra: “It’s nice to have this win. It was hard at the end there on the skate and then it was a tough one, but now it’s OK, we won in a shootout. It was easy for me, we scored three out of three. Yeah, we played a really good game tonight. We deserved to win.”
The Avalanche had taken a 3-2 lead at 11:45 on a goal by Duchene, his first in seven games.
After getting a pass in the slot from
Ryan O'Reilly, Duchene changed his mind "at the last second" about taking a shot because a Maple Leafs defenseman was in his way, but he'd already started to shoot. He wound up chipping the puck to the end boards, where he retrieved it, skated from behind the net and stuffed it by Bernier near the right post.
"I got halfway in-between shooting the puck," Duchene said. "At the last second I decided not to shoot, but I was kind of in the motion of shooting. I was going to hold it for a second and roof it on the far side. I was really ticked off and I grabbed the puck and I just kind of rammed it in the net. My game's a lot of finesse, but sometimes you have to be stubborn and just kind of whack at it."
The Avalanche tied the game 2-2 at 5:43 of the second period on a breakaway goal by Tanguay, who had five shots on goal. He took a stretch pass from
Zach Redmond, skated between two defenders and beat Bernier for his team-leading fifth goal.
The Leafs had gone ahead one minute earlier on a power-play goal by Bozak with Redmond serving a slashing penalty. Van Riemsdyk passed to Bozak just outside the crease for a shot that beat Berra to the stick side, ending the Avalanche's streak at 29 consecutive penalty kills.
Berra, who had 33 saves, stopped
Phil Kessel on a breakaway in the second and made stops against Panik and van Riemsdyk on 2-on-1 rushes.
"Some good timing saves," Berra said. "I'm happy I can stop those because I didn't have that many shots, especially in the first two periods. It was a tough game for a goalie. I had to stay focused. When they had chances it was probably a 2-on-1 or a breakaway."
Avalanche defenseman
Nick Holden scored his first goal of the season 31 seconds into the game with a shot from low in the left circle. Kessel, who has three goals and seven assists in a five-game scoring streak, tied the game at 16:20.
"We certainly stuck together there and felt like there was nothing that was going to stop us tonight, even though we had a couple of tough breaks," captain
Gabriel Landeskog said. "They played well, I think. They certainly played a good road game. Second and third period, they played really well. They got that late one and we think we have that power play in overtime and they make up for that and call one on us. But I certainly think we had our chances in overtime. I think overall we played well.”
*****
Check out
Save by Roy, an in-depth look at the Avalanche's surprising 2013-14 season. It can be purchased on
amazon.com and is available wherever books are sold. It's written by
Denver Post sports reporters
Adrian Dater and
Terry Frei.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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