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 Colorado recovered from a three-goal deficit for a second
consecutive game behind reserve goalie Calvin Pickard, this time
taking a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on center Daniel
Briere's overtime goal Tuesday at Gila River Arena.
The Avalanche trailed 3-0 after 10:53 of the first period, when
Pickard replaced starter Reto Berra. On Friday, the Avalanche
overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat Carolina 4-3 when Pickard shut out
the Hurricanes for the final 43 minutes in a relief role.
"You feel confident, absolutely, but at the same time it sucks a lot
of energy out of you to mentally regroup when it is 3-0 on the
scoreboard after 10 minutes," said left winger Gabriel Landeskog,
who scored Colorado's first two goals Tuesday. "We don't want to get
in the habit of doing this every night, but it certainly builds
confidence for the future."
In overtime, Briere's centering pass bounced off Martin Hanzal's
stick as the Arizona center attempted to clear it in front of the
net. The puck then went through goalie Mike Smith's legs with 1:44
remaining.
"They don't ask how, just how many," said Briere, who has four goals
this season and 306 in a career that started with the Coyotes in
1997-98. "I got a lucky break on this one, but I'll definitely take
it."
Pickard made 25 saves as the Avalanche (8-9-5) won for the fourth
time in five games.
"He did a really good job against Carolina the other night, and he
was again perfect," Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. "He battles out
there and he competes."
Center Antoine Vermette, defenseman Michael Stone and center Tobias
Rieder scored for Arizona in the first 10:53, but Colorado scored
once in the second period and twice in the first five minutes of the
third period to tie the game.
Landeskog posted goals at 5:49 of the second period and 1:36 of the
third, both on shots from point blank range. He has six goals this
season. Avalanche center Matt Duchene produced the tying goal 4:05
into the third period.
Duchene's goal came on a shot from behind the net that bounced off
left winger Lauri Korpikoski's stick and past Smith.
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"We had some breaks to get the lead, and they got some breaks to get
back in the game," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "When you shoot
it in your own net, that's a bad break."
Smith made 29 saves for the Coyotes (9-11-3), who lost their past
four home games in the final three minutes of the third period or
overtime. Smith is 4-11-2 this season.
"We had a good handle on the game after the first period and let it
get away," said Stone, who tied a career high with two points.
Berra, starting for injured Avalanche regular Semyon Varlamov, has
allowed nine goals on 37 shots the past three games. He was pulled
in the first period in each of the past two.
NOTES: Coyotes C Martin Hanzal, who missed seven of the first 22
games with assorted injuries, was back on the ice Tuesday. He
finished minus-1 and put four shots on goal in 18:37 of ice time.
... Colorado LW Alex Tanguay, the Avalanche's leading scorer, missed
his second straight game after being hit in the face by slap shot
from Washington RW Alex Ovechkin last Thursday. Tanguay, who has
seven goals, has been hit in the face by pucks three times in recent
weeks. ... Coyotes G Devan Dubnyk (5-0-1) sat out in favor of G Mike
Smith, who is now 8-1-4 in 13 starts against Colorado. ... The
Coyotes are 5-1-3 in their past nine games against Colorado. ...
Coyotes RW Shane Doan played in his 1,338th game Tuesday, 48th in
NHL history. The only active payer with more goals is New Jersey RW
Jaromir Jagr.
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