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 Ward turned away 26 shots for his first shutout of the season,
center Victor Rask scored 1:49 into overtime, and the Hurricanes
beat the Colorado Avalanche 1-0 Wednesday night.
The win was Carolina's first in Colorado since Feb. 9, 1996, when
the franchise was known as the Hartford Whalers. The Hurricanes were
0-10-2 since, including nine consecutive losses at Pepsi Center.
That ended with Ward's 23rd career shutout, which included several
big saves to send the game to overtime.
"I guess it's been a long time coming and we were due," Ward said.
"It's always a tough building to play in. We had the two-hour time
change and the late start tonight. Then you consider the altitude
and facing a tough team."
The Hurricanes got the win when Rask took a pass from defenseman
Ryan Murphy and beat goaltender Semyon Varlamov with a backhander.
It was Rask's second of the season.
Colorado's three-man unit was on the ice for an extended shift and
clearly was fatigued when Rask scored.
"They were out there a long time," Rask said. "I had a step on the
guy and just put it in the net."
Varlamov made 18 saves.
Colorado center Matt Duchene had a great chance to win the game late
in regulation when he had Ward face down, but the goalie got a stick
on the shot to make the save.
"I'm absolutely, extremely frustrated that I wasn't able to finish
that one off," Duchene said. "I'm trying to find a way to blame
myself, and it's tough because it's an amazing save. I tried to roof
it. In hindsight, I could have just slid it in, but you're never
going to do that because the goalie has an easier time making that
save."
Ward came up big again in overtime when Duchene's stretch pass to
Jarome Iginla gave the right winger a breakaway. Ward's pad save
kept Colorado off the board.
"Both goalies were outstanding tonight," Iginla said. "We felt like
we let Varly down. We couldn't find him one goal."
Both teams had few chances through the first two periods, but the
goalies came up with big stops when needed.
Varlamov, who didn't play the previous two games after going 1-2
with a 5.06 goals-against average to start the season, stopped
center Elias Lindholm on an unobstructed shot midway through the
second period.
His best save came later in the frame when right winger Kris
Versteeg came in on a breakaway with 36 seconds left. Varlamov
snared Versteeg's snap shot with his glove to keep it scoreless
heading into the third.
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Varlamov also had a save on center Nathan Gerbe's breakaway in the
first period.
"Both teams had some looks," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "Gerbe
had a short-handed breakaway, Versteeg was in alone, and we had a
two-on-one prior to the game going into overtime. We had
opportunities. We just didn't find a way to finish them. Good play
by Victor taking it hard to the net."
Ward stopped 15 shots through the first two periods and made a
couple of saves on Duchene while the Avalanche were killing off a
pair of minor penalties in the second.
Colorado's best chance in the second period was thwarted by an
offside call on right winger Alex Tanguay even though replays showed
he crossed into Carolina's zone after the puck.
The Hurricanes had a scary moment late in the second when defenseman
John-Michael Liles took a skate to the face along the boards and
left the ice. He returned later in the game and said afterward he
took the butt of Iginla's skate to his two front teeth.
NOTES: Avalanche D Tyson Barrie served the second game of his
three-game suspension for his hit on Anaheim D Simon Despres on
Friday. He will also miss Saturday's game against Columbus. Barrie
was replaced in the lineup by D Brandon Gormley, who made his
Colorado debut. Gormley was acquired from Arizona on Sept. 9. ...
Carolina's John-Michael Liles is the highest-scoring defenseman in
Quebec/Colorado history. He has 275 points (68 goals, 207 assists)
in 523 games over seven years with the franchise. ... Colorado C
Mikhail Grigorenko made his home debut Wednesday. ... The Hurricanes
recalled D Rasmus Rissanen from Charlotte of the AHL on Tuesday. He
was a healthy scratch.
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