[January 17, 2014]DENVER — One of the last times
Patrick Roy faced the New Jersey Devils, he was celebrating a Game 7 win
in the 2001 Stanley Cup finals.
That victory capped the goalie's fourth Cup title and second with
the Colorado Avalanche. Now he is trying to bring his bring his old
team back to prominence as the head coach, and he just may have the
netminder to get there.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped 33 shots, center Ryan O'Reilly
scored in regulation and in the shootout, and Colorado beat the New
Jersey Devils 2-1 Thursday night.
Center Matt Duchene, celebrating his 23rd birthday, also had a goal
in the shootout for the Avalanche, who won three straight.
Roy helped the Avalanche rally from a 3-2 series deficit against the
Devils 13 years ago. He pitched a shutout in New Jersey in Game 6
and then won Game 7 in Denver, 3-1.
Now he is behind the bench watching Varlamov turn in stellar
performances.
"I like the effort we had from our goalie. He made some great
saves," Roy said. "We put a lot on our goalie, and our goalie has
been phenomenal."
Varlamov wanted his play to speak for itself.
"I hate talking about myself. Ask Patrick," Varlamov said, referring
to Roy.
Goalie Cory Schneider made 37 saves, and center Reid Boucher scored
for the Devils, who are 0-8 in shootouts this season and have
dropped 12 straight dating back to last season.
Getting a point was little consolation for the Devils (20-18-11).
"It's still a loss, technically," said Schneider, who is 0-4 in
shootouts this year. "It would have been nice to pull a (win) out of
the fire. At the end of the day, it's still a hollow feeling."
Colorado (30-12-5) improved to 3-3 in shootouts this year. The
Avalanche won Thursday when Varlamov prevented left winger Patrik
Elias and center Adam Henrique from scoring in the shootout.
O'Reilly's shootout goal clinched it for Colorado.
"I watched Duchy go first," O'Reilly said. "He made a great play
coming down that right side. I saw some holes there and tried to do
the same thing."
Colorado kept rolling despite a rash of injuries. The Avalanche beat
the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday using a skeleton crew of 17
players, and they lost defenseman Erik Johnson to a back injury in
the second period that night.
Roy decided to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen against
New Jersey, opting to double shift a center on the fourth line.
In the first period, it was O'Reilly who was skating with that
crew, and it paid off.
Left winger Patrick Bordeleau got the puck from right winger
Brad Malone and fed O'Reilly in front of the Devils' net.
O'Reilly buried the puck over Schneider to make it 1-0. It was
his 18th of the season.
"We ran a cycle play after Malone kept the puck in," O'Reilly
said. "Bordy saw me alone out front, and I got the shot off
quick."
Colorado continued to dominate play through the second period
but couldn't stretch the lead because of Schneider.
"Schneider gave us a chance to get to the third," Devils coach
Peter DeBoer said. "We probably deserved to be down and out at
the end of 40 minutes."
New Jersey couldn't take advantage of a power play midway
through the second period. It ended early when defenseman Eric
Gelinas tripped O'Reilly has he tried to enter the Devils zone.
New Jersey managed just two shots on goal in the second.
The Devils finally broke through when Boucher scored with 11:01
left in regulation. New Jersey outshot Colorado 18-10 in the
third period.
"The way we played in the third, it seemed like they couldn't
play with us," Elias said. "It was like two different games."
NOTES: Avalanche C Paul Stastny (leg) and D Cory Sarich (back)
both missed a second consecutive game. Stastny is close to
returning and could be back when Colorado plays the Predators in
Nashville on Saturday. ... New Jersey activated LW Patrik Elias
and C Jacob Josefson from injured reserve and assigned F Mike
Sislo to AHL Albany. Josefson was a healthy scratch Thursday.
... The Avalanche recalled D Karl Stollery from AHL Lake Erie
and assigned G Sami Aittokallio to the same club. Aittokallio
was recalled to serve as G Semyon Varlamov's backup while
Jean-Sebastien Giguere recovered from back spasms. ... The
Devils' penalty kill began the night ranked third in the NHL,
and it successfully killed off all three of the Avalanches'
power plays Thursday.
That victory capped the goalie's fourth Cup title and second with
the Colorado Avalanche. Now he is trying to bring his bring his old
team back to prominence as the head coach, and he just may have the
netminder to get there.
