A lot of teams have tried to give away games late to the Avalanche this season, especially at the Pepsi Center. The Avs have too often responded like a teenager being offered a free subscription to Shakespeare Magazine.
The Avs finally seized the day when given a chance at two points, getting a 5-4 overtime win over the Florida Panthers.
“Sometimes, you get a little lucky,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said.
It took a while, but the Panthers turned into the Panthers at the end, blowing the lead in the final minute of regulation by taking two penalties nine seconds apart. Avs rookie Paul Stastny scored the tying goal with his team on a 6-on-3 advantage with 37 seconds left, and Joe Sakic won it 25 seconds into overtime.
There was chirping again in the Avalanche dressing room, after back-to-back home losses in which the Avs probably deserved at least a point. The Avs might not have deserved it this time, but thanks to Bryan Allen’s interference penalty with 50 seconds left, followed by Ville Peltonen’s delay-of-game, flipping-the- puck-in-the-stands violation with 41 ticks left, they got two.
Stastny tied it by converting Tyler Arnason’s setup pass, and Stastny set up Sakic for the overtime goal on an old Avs nemesis, Panthers goalie Ed Belfour.
“It kind of makes up for the last couple of games,” Sakic said. “It was a great win for us, a great comeback.”
The goal puts Sakic three short of 600 for his career. It was a short one-timer that beat Belfour, who had stopped 37 shots to that point.
Avalanche defenseman Karlis Skrastins tied Tim Horton’s NHL record for consecutive games played (486) by a defender, contributing an assist.
“It means a lot to me. It’s one of those things that I can be proud of about myself,” Skrastins said. “Maybe we got lucky, but it feels like a good team win.”
The Panthers came in looking for their first victory over a Western Conference team this season, and seemed to have it before the late penalties. They didn’t help themselves by losing faceoffs and failing to clear a loose puck in that last minute, and left Stastny unchecked in front.
Avs goalie Jose Theodore was off for the extra skater, having kept his team in it with some tough saves after Florida took a 4-2 lead midway through the second period.
“The credit really has to go to Jose,” Sakic said. “After the first period, it should have been 5-1 for them.”
Indeed, the Avs were terrible for large stretches of the first two periods, getting outshot 28-21.
“Obviously, we played our best period in the third,” Theodore said. “I think this time of the year we have to be ready right off the bat. But it was a great momentum win.”
Theodore said he was buoyed by some words from Sakic after the first period.
“He came up to me and said I was doing a good job, so I felt good,” Theodore said. “From there, he just took over. Joe is Joe. You can’t say enough. When he has that time in the slot, the game is already over.”
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
