The defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes have lost seven of their past 10 games and have that slightly hung-over look that often comes one season after sipping bubbly from Lord Stanley’s giant punch bowl.
The Avalanche was only too happy to add to Carolina’s malaise, beating the Hurricanes 5-2 at the Pepsi Center on Monday night.
Overcoming a 2-1 third-period deficit, the Avs struck with goals by Andrew Brunette, John-Michael Liles, Joe Sakic and Pierre Turgeon against goalie John Grahame, an Overland High School graduate.
Now, if the Avs can just beat the NHL’s lesser lights, after defeating some of the top teams. They get their next chance to string at least two wins together Wednesday at home against the lowly St. Louis Blues, who will have a new coach, Andy Murray.
“We’ve been up and down of late, and it would be nice to get something going,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenne- ville said. “It’s been tough to get on that roll. But tonight, it was nice to win a game where it was on the line.”
The win might be costly for the Avs, though. Defenseman Jordan Leopold was seen with crutches entering the team’s X-ray room after the game, after possibly reaggravating the sports hernia injury that sidelined him the first two months. The Avs said he hurt his groin, but gave no further information.
When Carolina’s Justin Williams scored his second goal of the game, at 1:08 of the third to make it 2-1, it seemed like the same, tired story would play out again on the Avs’ home ice.
“I think we might have been looking at the ceiling after that goal, saying, ‘Are you kidding me?”‘ Liles said. “But we kept battling and I think maybe the altitude started to get to them.”
Things started to turn around for the Avs when goalie Peter Budaj (26 saves) made a huge stop on Carolina star Eric Staal on a 2-on-1 break, right after Williams’ goal. The Avs kept chipping away and finally were rewarded when Brunette scored on his own rebound past a flopping Grahame to tie it at 8:46. At the 10:33 mark, with Carolina’s Trevor Letowski in the penalty box for holding, Brunette found Liles with a timing pass from the right corner, which Liles one-timed home coming down the left side for the game-winner.
“Bruno put it right on my tape, and when you get a goalie moving like that, there’s usually a few spaces open,” Liles said.
On another power play, Brunette set up Sakic with a perfect pass from behind the net for a quick one-timer past Grahame and suddenly it was 4-2 with 7:16 remaining.
“Falling behind, we haven’t had much success at home. I don’t want to see this team feel it played a decent game, but fall behind and lose,” Brunette said. “It was important for us to win this hockey game and gain some confidence, especially after the kind of game we had (Saturday in Los Angeles).”
The Hurricanes, winless on their Western road swing, have not beaten the Avalanche since moving from Hartford, Conn. Carolina is 0-11-3 in the past 14 games against Colorado.
The Avs have not lost to the franchise since Feb. 9, 1996, when the Whalers won 3-2 in overtime.
“Instead of going for their throat (up 2-1), we seem to just coast and want to sit on that lead,” Williams said.
“Instead of getting the killer instinct and getting that next goal and keep pressing, we sit back and take penalties. We gave up odd-man rushes and they capitalized on their power play. It’s very frustrating right now.”
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
