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 Bonino scored two goals, goaltender Ryan Miller shook off a rough
start to make 20 saves and the Canucks rallied to beat the Colorado
Avalanche 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Centers Henrik Sedin and Shawn Matthias and right winger Derek
Dorsett also scored for the Canucks, who have won five of six.
Left winger Chris Higgins had two assists.
"In the second we just took the game over," Matthias said. "I'd like
to see how long we had the puck. It seemed like we were rolling the
lines and cycling the puck. All four lines were rolling."
Center John Mitchell and left wing Jamie McGinn scored for Colorado.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov had 32 saves for the Avalanche.
Trailing by a goal entering the third, the Canucks struck twice in a
span of 2:20. Dorsett tied it with a deflected shot 2:27 into the
period, and then Bonino put a loose puck into an open net to give
Vancouver its first lead of the game.
The center got his second goal nearly five minutes later with a
snapshot that beat Varlamov on the short side.
"A great play again by Higgy (Higgins)," Bonino said. "He had three
guys on him, gave me the pass. I was going to get squeezed off if I
didn't put it on net. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't."
Matthias, who was denied earlier in the game, made it 5-2 with 6:50
left.
"Three years in a row I've scored my first one in the 13th game," he
said. "I guess it's my game. It's good to get that one out of the
way."
Colorado played the third period with just five defensemen after
Brad Stuart suffered a leg injury in the second and did not return.
It was one of many things that went wrong for the struggling
Avalanche. Last season Colorado started 12-1 but this year sit 3-6-5
and has lost three straight, which prompted a brief players meeting
after the loss.
"We felt like there's some things to air out, that we wanted to talk
about," captain and left winger Gabriel Landeskog said. "We had a
chance to do that."
Things looked positive early for Colorado. Mitchell gave the
Avalanche a 1-0 lead with a goal 1:15 into the game. He took a drop
pass from left winger Alex Tanguay and beat Miller with Colorado's
first shot of the game.
The Avalanche couldn't generate much on a four-minute power play
midway through the first but got a second goal late in the period
when McGinn wristed a pass from right wing Jarome Iginla over
Miller's right shoulder to make it 2-0.
Colorado had chances to add on but couldn't capitalize.
[to top of second column] |
"We weren't good enough on it," Iginla said. "We're up 2-0 and we
have the power plays and we want to make it 3-0. We know the
importance of it. We didn't and they hung around and it cost us."
Center Nathan MacKinnon nearly gave Colorado a three-goal lead, but
Miller made a glove save on him.
"I spotted them two goals, I felt like I had to calm things down, in
my mind as well," Miller said. "I needed to calm down and battle
through. We were able to get through some penalty kills and the guys
got rewarded in the third period."
The Canucks were on the attack for most of the second period but had
a tough time solving Varlamov. The goaltender stopped Matthias on a
breakaway chance with 3:19 left in the period, and, a minute later,
left winger Daniel Sedin got a pass from behind the net from his
brother, center Henrik Sedin, and hit the far post. The puck fell
underneath Varlamov, who covered it up.
It looked like the Avalanche would carry a two-goal lead into the
third when the Canucks finally broke through. Henrik Sedin, parked
in front of the net, scored on a rebound off Daniel Sedin's shot
from the point with four seconds left in the second to make it 2-1.
"I thought we played real hard in the second," Vancouver coach
Willie Desjardins said. "I thought we could have had a couple. We
finally got rewarded."
Vancouver outshot Colorado 16-8 in the period.
NOTES: Vancouver D Kevin Bieksa was in the lineup despite getting
hit in the eye with a puck Sunday against Nashville. ... Colorado RW
Daniel Briere again was a healthy scratch. He has been out of the
lineup the last four games. ... Canucks rookie C Bo Horvat made his
NHL debut. Horvat, 19, was Vancouver's first-round pick (ninth
overall) in the 2013 NHL draft. ... Avalanche C Jesse Winchester
took part in the morning skate with a regular practice jersey.
Winchester has yet to play this season because of a head injury. He
was on schedule to play last week when he had a setback.
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