The Avalanche gave away a house to a fan Tuesday night. The Avs weren’t quite as charitable with the Phoenix Coyotes.
In their final home game of the regular season, the Avs played like they were desperate to play a few more home games during the postseason, beating the Coyotes 6-4 at the Pepsi Center. The victory bolstered the Avs’ playoff aspirations, moving them one point ahead of seventh-place San Jose, three ahead of eighth-place Edmonton and five ahead of ninth-place Vancouver in the Western Conference.
Recently acquired goalie Jose Theodore got his first victory as a member of the Avalanche. Despite the final score and the relatively few of shots he faced in his first start for the Avs, Theodore had to make some critical early saves to keep Colorado in charge.
In a penalty-filled first period, Theodore and the Avs had to beat back two lengthy 5-on-3 disadvantages to preserve a 2-0 Colorado lead. The Avs wasted little time converting on their lone 5-on-3 advantage, when Milan Hejduk tapped in Andrew Brunette’s crossing pass for a 3-0 lead at 18:57 of the first.
“The first half of the game, we really came hard and played well,” said Theodore, who allowed a couple of late, fluky goals. “The first period was really good for (my) confidence. For the team, it was good that we were able to kill those 5-on-3s. That was good to test how I felt, and I felt better than I (expected).”
Alex Tanguay, Colorado’s leading scorer before spraining a knee March 19, scored 1:08 into the game upon his return. After stealing a puck from Coyotes defenseman Zbynek Michalek, Tanguay broke in alone and beat former Avs goalie Phil Sauve with a shot off his forehand.
“It was good especially how he scored, good for our bench and the enthusiasm it brought,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. “We knew we had to win this game, our last at home. I thought everybody came to the rink excited to play.”
Brett Clark scored his ninth goal of the season at 11:03 to make it 2-0, and then the penalties began. At one point, the Avs had three players in the penalty box, all serving separate minors. But the Coyotes were held off the board thanks to some good penalty-killing work by the three players in front of Theodore, and a couple of nice saves by the goalie himself.
“You build momentum off (killed) 5-on-3s,” Avs forward Ian Laperriere said.
After nearly squaring off to fight Phoenix forward Josh Gratton before a faceoff, Laperriere tipped Clark’s point shot past Sauve to make it 4-0 at 38 seconds of the second period – then punctuated the goal with some trash talk toward Gratton.
Brunette and Pierre Turgeon scored for a 6-0 lead in the second period, chasing Sauve from the game. Theodore’s shutout was spoiled late in the second on a tip-in goal by former Avs player Mike Ricci.
Laperriere dropped the gloves late in the game to fight Phoenix’s best player, Shane Doan, after Doan laid a big hit on Tanguay.
Theodore was impressed with everything in his first full game as an Av.
“The fans are great here, and everything about the organization is first-class,” he said.
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
