Baertschi leads Canucks past Avs

[January 26, 2017]  DENVER -- Sven Baertschi is starting to make scoring on the Colorado Avalanche a habit, and the Vancouver Canucks are enjoying the trend.

Baertschi scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal in the third period, and the Canucks beat the Avalanche 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Markus Granlund also scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves for Vancouver.

The Canucks (23-20-6) are 2-6-2 in their past 10 road games, and two of their six wins away from home came in Colorado.

Vancouver finished a sweep of the three games against the Avalanche, and Baertschi has been the main reason for the past two victories. He scored two goals in the Canucks' 3-2 win in Vancouver on Jan. 2 and matched that Wednesday while victimizing Avalanche goaltender Calvin Pickard once again.

"I had a little chat with Calvin Pickard out there. He wasn't too happy with me scoring against him again," Baertschi said. "We know each other from Juniors, and it's always fun playing against him. Somehow it works. I've found the right spots out there and been able to capitalize on the chances I get.

Matt Nieto and Mikko Rantanen had goals and Pickard stopped 38 shots for the Avalanche, who have lost seven straight.

The Pepsi Center has been a favorite place for visiting teams. The Avalanche (13-31-2) are 1-14-2 at home since Nov. 15.

"Over the last six, seven games, even though we haven't come away with anything but one point, we've been executing pretty good," Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "That's a positive and something we have to build on. Right now, the results aren't even close to coming for us."

The Avalanche trailed entering the third before Nieto tied the game 2-2 at 6:18. Baertschi put the Canucks ahead again on the power play with this second goal of the game at 11:46.

It was Vancouver's first power play of the game. and it came after a Landeskog slashing penalty at 10:44.

"We tie it up, and we haven't done that a whole lot this year," Landeskog said. "That brain fart on my part in the neutral zone ends up costing us the game. "

Vancouver jumped over the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames in the Western Conference standings and now sits in the second wild-card position. The Canucks are a point up the Flames, and they have played two fewer games than Calgary.

The Canucks play at Arizona on Thursday before the All-Star break, so getting the win in Colorado was important.

"It was good to get that one. I thought it was going to be a tough game and it was," Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins said. "They've got lots of speed up front. They came back, they didn't quit, and it was big for us to get that power-play goal."

Avalanche center Matt Duchene, who missed Monday's loss with a stomach virus, assisted on Nieto's goal. Duchene talked openly about trade rumors with reporters after Wednesday's morning skate.

"The trade rumor stuff is part of the business," he said. "I've said it before, I understand at this juncture of the season the way things are going, something may happen, something may not. We'll see."

Baertschi gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead when he backhanded a loose puck from in front of the Colorado net past Pickard at 6:55 of the first. It was his 12th goal of the season and first in nine games.

Granlund jumped on a turnover by Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov behind the Colorado net and stuffed it between Pickard's skate and the post at 7:04 of the second. It was his 12th goal of the season.

The Avalanche cut the lead in half when Nathan MacKinnon stuffed a shot by Zadorov through Markstrom's pads and Rantanen knocked it in at 16:28 of the second period. The goal was Rantanen's seventh of the season.

NOTES: Colorado F Matt Duchene said the stomach bug that kept him out of Monday's game had bothered him since Saturday. He said he made multiple trips to the emergency room Monday. He didn't practice Tuesday but was back in the lineup Wednesday. ... Vancouver D Alexander Edler was in the lineup after sustaining an upper-body injury in Chicago on Sunday. ... The Avalanche recalled F Jim O'Brien from AHL San Antonio on Tuesday. O'Brien was brought up in case Duchene wasn't available after Colorado rolled with only 11 forwards on Monday. ... D Jordan Subban and C Reid Boucher were healthy scratches for Vancouver. ... Colorado D Francois Beauchemin played his 800th game.

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