Matt Duchene let out a grimace when informed that Joe Sakic scored his first career goal in his second game, a feat he wanted but was unable to top or duplicate after his first two games with the Avalanche.
But other than being a bit jinxed so far by rolling pucks and crossbars, Duchene is off to an excellent start to his NHL career. The Avs’ 18-year-old center did a lot of good things in Colorado’s 3-0 victory over Vancouver but admitted to being anxious about getting his first goal out of the way.
“I’m doing everything but getting that goal, I think, so far,” Duchene said. “I hit a couple of crossbars today, one on the power play and another one that was batted out of the air right after it hit. But I’m not too worried about it. If we were losing and I wasn’t getting anything, I’d be a lot more concerned. But it’s going to come, and the big thing is the wins.”
Duchene’s best moment of the day was a great shift on a penalty kill, when he stole the puck twice, got a good scoring chance and made a pass from his knees after the second steal. He moved the puck crisply and gave an otherwise sluggish Avs team a boost of energy in the first.
Footnotes.
Ruslan Salei and T.J. Hensick were again the Avs’ healthy scratches. But coach Joe Sacco said defenseman Salei “will work his way in the lineup soon” and said some time he missed in training camp with the flu slowed his progress. . . . Defenseman Kyle Quincey, who assisted on a goal by Paul Stastny, logged a game-high 23:35 for the Avs. . . . The Avs debuted a new mascot in the game — “Bernie,” a fluffy Saint Bernard.
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
