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 Center Matt Duchene and right winger Cody McLeod tied a franchise
record with goals nine seconds apart and the Avalanche beat the
Arizona Coyotes 5-2 on Monday night.
Left winger Gabriel Landeskog and defensemen Tyson Barrie and Nick
Holden also had goals for the Avalanche. Duchene added an assist for
his 300th career point and right winger Jarome Iginla and defenseman
Zach Redmond had two assists each.
The Avalanche also ended a month-long scoring drought on the power
play.
"Our offense is rolling now a little bit better and it was nice to
get a power-play goal," Duchene said. "I think everybody enjoyed
that one. Everybody played outstanding."
Colorado dominated throughout and gave goaltender Semyon Varlamov an
easy night. He faced five shots through 40 minutes before being
replaced by Reto Berra to start the third.
"It was good to give a bit of a rest to Varly," coach Patrick Roy
said. "He's been playing a lot of games."
 While Varlamov didn't need to work a lot for the win, Roy pointed
out it wasn't the easiest victory for an Avalanche goalie. That
honor went to his backup, Craig Billington, in the late 1990s.
"Billington had two wins, one he played 11 seconds and the other he
played 30 seconds," Roy said.
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and right winger Mark Arcobello had
goals for Arizona. Goalie Mike McKenna had 29 saves in his first
start of the season for the Coyotes.
The Avalanche put heavy pressure on McKenna right away and were
rewarded with two quick goals. McLeod scored at 2:54 of the first
when he put in his own rebound for his fifth goal of the season.
Colorado won the ensuing faceoff at center ice and Iginla fed
Duchene in the slot, and he redirected it in for his 15th of the
season.
"It's goaltending and it's hockey, right? Anything can happen," said
the 31-year-old McKenna, who was playing in his 22nd career game.
"Whether it starts out slowly or quickly, you've got to be ready for
it. My only objective is to try to get in front of the puck. I
didn't do enough of that early on, unfortunately."
The nine seconds between goals ties a franchise record, which was
accomplished two previous times, most recently Jan. 23, 2002 against
Edmonton.
"Cody McLeod got a big hit and then a goal to start us off and we
were able to score another one right after," Duchene said. "Iggy
found me back door. It was a great start for us, the start we wanted
and we were able to follow it through pretty much the whole game."
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Ekman-Larsson cut the lead in half with his team-leading 17th goal
of the season at 9:51 of the first. Holden made it 3-1 with a
power-play goal at 14:58.
It was Colorado's first power-play goal in 12 games and ended an
0-for-32 drought with the man advantage. Holden had the last
power-play goal, Jan. 15 at Florida.
"It's exactly what we've been talking about," Roy said. "They don't
have to be perfect all the time. Just good wrister on the net with a
good screen in front."
Barrie and Landeskog scored in the second period to make the lead
5-1. It was a dominant defensive period for Colorado, which held
Arizona without a shot in the frame.
"That's about as poor of execution I've seen a team have in a long
time," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "That's not a good game.
That's not who we want to be, that's for sure."
Arizona didn't have a shot in the second period but had five in the
first five minutes of the third. Arcobello made it 5-2 when his shot
went off Berra's shoulder with 17:23 left. It was his 10th of the
season.
Berra finished with 11 saves as Arizona had a season-low 17 shots.
NOTES: Avalanche Ds Jan Hejda (knee) and Brad Stuart (head, neck and
ribs) were both shaken up in Saturday's win over the Dallas Stars
but played Monday. ... Coyotes G Mike Smith was ill, so he was given
the night off, coach Dave Tippett said. ... Avalanche D Stefan
Elliott and C Daniel Briere were healthy scratches. ... Arizona C
Martin Hanzal missed his 10th consecutive game with an upper-body
injury, and C Alexandre Bolduc was out for a fourth straight game
due to a mid-body injury. ... Arizona D Zbynek Michalek was
scratched from the lineup because of an upper-body injury. He is
day-to-day.
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