Vancouver, British Columbia – Dallas or Calgary – but not Detroit.
For the Avalanche, its potential first-round playoff travel itinerary was trimmed by one city Saturday night. Nothing against the Motor City, but the Avs would just as soon avoid going there this week.
Thanks to the Avs getting a point as part of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks at General Motors Place, they are guaranteed no worse than a seventh-place finish in the Western Conference. If the Avs finish seventh, they will play the Dallas Stars. Sixth – which could happen with an Avs win Monday and Anaheim getting one point or none against Calgary on Tuesday – and Colorado would travel to Calgary to play the conference champion Flames.
Alex Tanguay’s goal with 2:06 left in regulation Saturday gave Colorado a 3-2 lead, but Anson Carter scored a fluky goal in the final minute and Brendan Morrison won it for Vancouver at 4:23 of overtime.
“We’ll take the point and knowing we’ve got at least seventh (place),” said Avs defenseman Rob Blake, who assisted on Tanguay’s go-ahead goal. “But we’ve got to be a little better with a minute left in the game.”
Two huge plays happened to get the Avalanche the point it needed to avoid a potential slip to eighth place. The first, of course, was Tanguay’s goal.
It was an easy tap-in score – his second of the game – after Rob Blake and Ian Laperriere kept the puck alive with whacks at it in front of the Canucks net. By the time the puck came to Tanguay, he had a yawning net with goalie Mika Noronen out of position.
The other was a major defensive play just before Tanguay’s goal by Andrew Brunette. The veteran left winger broke up a pass that was coming right onto the stick of Vancouver’s Todd Bertuzzi, with the Canucks on an odd-man rush in a 2-2 game and Avs goalie Jose Theodore out of position.
“We wanted at least one point, but for sure we play for the win,” said Avs defenseman Patrice Brisebois, who had two assists. “We want to play well, to try to carry that momentum into the playoffs. I think we played a pretty solid game defensively, but it’s too bad what happened in the end.”
Victory was less than a minute away for the Avalanche when Carter grabbed a rebounded puck off the back boards and beat Theodore to the short side. Avalanche veteran Pierre Turgeon tied the game 2-2 midway through the third period with his 16th goal of the season. Turgeon was credited with the goal after video review. A crossing pass from linemate Brad Richardson hit Turgeon’s skate and carried into the net. The goal stood because Turgeon was not in a kicking motion.
“We wanted to move up or at least solidify where we’re at,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. “We were looking to get something out of tonight’s game, and we got it done.”
Said Avs captain Joe Sakic: “It was a big point, obviously. We moved up and cemented at least seventh. So we’ll see next game where we finish up, sixth or seventh.”
The Avalanche played a pretty good first two periods with Tanguay’s tip-in goal to show for it. Otherwise, the Avs outshot the Canucks 21-17 and probably had the better of the scoring chances.
The lead didn’t last long into the second. Bertuzzi scored his 25th of the season at 2:13, putting home an easy rebound in front after some heavy Canucks pressure.
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
