Vancouver, British Columbia – In an effort to get more from his suddenly struggling offense, Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville mixed up a couple of his lines Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks. Pierre Turgeon, struggling lately, played left wing on a fourth line with Brad Richardson and Cody McCormick.
Turgeon scored a tying goal with 11:38 left in the third period, on a setup pass from Richardson.
Brett McLean centered a second line with Alex Tanguay and Ian Laperriere, and Jim Dowd centered Antti Laaksonen and Dan Hinote.
Turgeon’s demotion continued to move him a little deeper into Quenneville’s doghouse – although the goal might help him get out. Turgeon has three points in his past 10 games and has seen his ice time dip lately. He played only 10:13 against Calgary on Thursday night, and fewer than 10 minutes in an April 5 game against San Jose.
Through the first two periods against the Canucks on Saturday night, Turgeon played just 4:21.
Stretch-run troubles
Since the Avalanche moved to Denver in 1995, the team has not finished a season with losses in its last three games. The most recent time in franchise history the team lost its final three games was in 1989-90. The Quebec Nordiques lost their last eight games.
Footnotes
The Avalanche will practice today at the Rexall Place in Edmonton. … The Avs entered the game with the most first-period goals of any NHL team (98). … Colorado also entered the game with the league’s highest number of goals from defensemen (51). … Counting this season, Colorado’s 11 consecutive playoff seasons is the NHL’s second-longest streak. Detroit leads with 15. … Vitaly Kolesnik and Bob Boughner were healthy scratches for Colorado. Brad May missed another game with a groin injury.
