The big plays at the end were made by players named Roy and Drury. In the old days, that meant great things for the Avalanche.
But Chris Drury is a Buffalo Sabre now, and he has a teammate named Derek Roy. The Avalanche was victimized by goals by both players in the final three minutes Sunday night in a 6-4 loss at the Pepsi Center.
Roy’s second-chance goal on substitute Avs goalie Peter Budaj with 2:27 left in the third period broke a 4-4 tie, after the Avs had fought back from a 4-1 first-period deficit.
“We battled back and we had our chances to win, and we didn’t take advantage,” said Avs captain Joe Sakic, who had two assists. “It’s disappointing. We have to win hockey games to keep pace in our division. Wednesday night against Boston is a big one for us.”
Victory, an absurd notion at the end of the first period, seemed not only possible, but probable after Colorado rookie Marek Svatos thrilled the crowd with a penalty-shot goal with 11:09 left in the third to tie it 4-4.
In the ensuing minute, the Avs stormed Buffalo goalie Martin Biron with even more ferocity, drawing a holding penalty on Drury in the process with 8:13 left. But the Avs suddenly went flat again. They didn’t do much on the power play, allowing Buffalo to regroup.
With 2:47 left, Colorado’s Antti Laaksonen was called for hooking, giving Buffalo only its second power play of the night. That led to Buffalo swinging the puck around to right wing Jason Pominville, who blasted a shot on net that Budaj stopped. But Budaj allowed too big of a rebound for such a low pad save; the puck came free to Roy in the slot, and he slipped a shot that squirted over the goal line.
“It was too much of a rebound,” Budaj said. “I thought we played better than they did for two out of three periods, so it’s frustrating not to get something after coming back like we did.”
Drury added an empty-netter (after having a goal disallowed with 5:11 left) to seal Colorado’s second straight defeat.
The game-winning power-play goal for Buffalo marked the 12th time in the past 13 games the Avalanche allowed at least one power-play goal. The PK unit, one of the team’s biggest strengths at the start of the season, has been more of a problem area of late.
“We’ve got to kill those, and I’m part of it. I’ll take responsibility for that,” Avs right wing Ian Laperriere said. “We didn’t have too many PKs tonight and that one was huge.”
The Avs wouldn’t have had to play so well and so hard in the final two periods if not for a disastrous first period.
“We were not sharp at the start of the game,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. “I liked the way we fought back, just not the ending.”
For the second time this season, Avs goalie David Aebischer was pulled early from a game – only to see Budaj credited with the loss. Aebischer allowed four goals on 16 shots in the first period, the last coming on a Mike Grier goal that made it 4-1 at 18:46.
Rob Blake made it 4-2 in the second, and Alex Tanguay cut it to a one-goal game in the third, setting the stage for Svatos’ dramatic penalty shot.
“I thought we were going to win after that,” Svatos said. “It’s tough not to get at least a point tonight. A bad start got us tonight.”
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
