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 Left winger Gabriel Landeskog scored a goal and added an assist as
the Avalanche kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a convincing
4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
"It doesn't matter where we are in the standings," Landeskog said.
"We play for pride and we play for each other and we play for the
crest on our jersey -- and we feel we owe it to each other in here."
In the end, the rest of the Avalanche owed a debt of gratitude to
Landeskog, who was prominent on their three first three goals,
though he did not get an assist after igniting the sequence that led
to left winger Alex Tanguay's winning tally midway through the
second period.
The Avalanche, in tough to grab a wild-card berth in the Western
Conference, improved to 34-28-12 and stayed within 10 points of the
Winnipeg Jets, who also won Thursday. The Jets hold the West's final
wild-card position.
The Canucks (43-27-4) saw their three-game winning streak end as
they continued their trend of playing poorly against teams below the
playoff bar.
Vancouver retains second place in the Pacific Division, but now
holds only a two-point lead on the surging Los Angeles Kings, who
moved into third place with a win over the New York Islanders
earlier Thursday.
"I thought we were skating well tonight," said Colorado coach
Patrick Roy, whose charges rallied from a loss to the lowly Edmonton
Oilers the night before and ended a two-game losing streak. "This is
probably one of our best first 40 minutes of the season that we
played as well defensively as offensively. We were executing really
well. We were moving the puck well. They were fun to watch."
Right winger Jarome Iginla and center John Mitchell also scored for
the Avalanche, who outshot the Canucks 38-34.
"It's important for us," Iginla said. "We know we're a ways back and
we're gonna need to pretty much win out to give ourselves a chance,
but you can't do that unless we win this one tonight. You always
hear the cliches and the one game at a time, but it really is. We're
not looking at the big picture. We just want to enjoy each game and
give it our best shot. We've gotta take care of ourselves and hope
for the best after that."
Defenseman Yannick Weber scored the only goal for the Canucks.
"They were way quicker than us, and their battle level was way
higher," said Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins, whose concerns
about Colorado's speed after the morning skate fell on deaf ears.
Avalanche goaltender Reto Berra picked up his third win of the
season by making 33 saves. Vancouver netminder Eddie Lack stopped 34
shots in a losing effort.
Landeskog was allowed to circle the Vancouver net with the puck and
put in a shot off Iginla at 3:23 of the second period to open the
scoring.
"I was in the middle of the goalie and he shot it," Iginla said. "It
just went off my pants and right into the top corner, so it was a
good break. You take those and you always feel good to see them go
in -- for sure."
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Landeskog also factored into Colorado's second goal as he stole the
puck in the Vancouver zone but was robbed by Lack on a breakaway.
The Avalanche managed to keep the puck in the Canucks zone, and
Tanguay knocked in the rebound of a shot by defenseman Zach Redmond
at 10:17, putting the visitors ahead 2-0 and ultimately securing the
win.
About 2 1/2 minutes later, Landeskog increased Colorado's lead to
3-0 during a power play. He was left all alone and had nothing but
net to shoot at as Lack was caught out of position.
"Backdoor tap-in, not hard to put that one in," he said.
Weber put the Canucks on the scoreboard just 15 seconds into the
third period as he wired home a slap shot during a power play.
Iginla was serving a hooking penalty that he took late in the second
period.
Mitchell capped the scoring with an empty-netter with one minute to
play.
Now, the Canucks must hope they can pick up their intensity when the
Dallas Stars, another team that is below the playoff bar but gifted
offensively, come to town Saturday.
"Everybody's gotta look at their own game," Desjardins said.
"Coaches gotta look at their game, and players, and we have to be
better for the next one."
NOTES: The Avalanche return home to face the Buffalo Sabres on
Saturday. ... The Canucks wore maroon replica Vancouver Millionaires
jerseys in a tribute to Thursday's 100th anniversary of the
Millionaires' Stanley Cup victory over the Ottawa Senators on March
26, 1915. The Canucks last wore the Millionaires jerseys a year ago
in a loss to Ottawa in the Heritage Classic at B.C. Place Stadium.
It turned out to be G Roberto Luongo's final game in a Vancouver
uniform, of any kind, before he was traded to Florida. ... Vancouver
RW Zack Kassian missed his sixth consecutive game with an apparent
back injury, while C Brad Richardson sat out his fifth in a row due
to a foot/ankle issue. The problem flared up again after Richardson
returned to the lineup for two games following a 24-game absence.
... The Avalanche were missing eight players due to injury: LW
Patrick Bordeleau (knee), C Daniel Briere (foot), C Nathan MacKinnon
(foot), D Erik Johnson (knee), LW Jamie McGinn (back), RW Boma
Rendulic (leg), D Ryan Wilson (shoulder) and C Jesse Winchester
(head).
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