OTTAWA — That collective sigh of relief Wednesday night at Scotiabank Place came from the Avalanche dressing room.
The Avs hit the midway point in style by pulling off a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game No. 41, but not before Colorado allowed its opponent to get up off the mat and then had to rely on goaltender Craig Anderson to deliver the knockout punch.
The Avs rode Anderson’s heroics with a 27-save performance as Ryan O’Reilly scored what turned out to be the winner in a wild third period that featured the Senators almost erasing a three-goal deficit. Matt Duchene, Chris Durno and Kyle Quincey also chipped in with goals for the Avs.
“We tend (to sit on leads). We get up by two or three goals and then we give them the game and let them get back into it,” said O’Reilly, who gave the Avs a 4-1 advantage 4:26 into the third. “But, we’re a young team and we’re learning how to figure it out. We are starting to get better, but (keeping a lead) is something we’ve got to be able to do.”
Hey, in the end, losing the lead didn’t make a difference. Sure, Nick Foligno scored at 7:38 and Ryan Shannon brought the Senators within a goal at 14:09 of the third, but Anderson made huge stops on Ottawa’s Chris Campoli and Alexei Kovalev to ensure the Avs got away victorious.
“Anytime a team is down they’re going to come hard and try to get back in it,” said Anderson, who picked up his 19th win of the season. “We did a great job getting the three-goal lead and making it 4-1. For us, it’s just a matter of sticking with the program and sticking with it.
“We’ve just got to keep learning from our mistakes. (The Senators) stepped up their game and that’s a credit to them. They’ve got some good players over there. They started to bring on the pressure. We just wanted to make sure we limited their scoring chances. Sometimes you’re not going to have momentum the whole game. There is going to be shifts.”
Yes, and this momentum shift was monumental because the Avs were rolling right along until Ottawa came to life.
Duchene made it 3-1 with his 11th goal of the season at 1:19 of the second when he fired it through Pascal Leclaire’s five-hole. The Ottawa goalie will be quite happy if he doesn’t get another glimpse of the Avs for a while — his lifetime record against the club fell to 0-6-1.
The Senators got a break when the opening goal by Shannon bounced off Kyle Cumiskey’s stick and past Anderson at 8:32 of the first. But the Avs pulled ahead on Durno’s chip through Leclaire’s legs at 18:54 of the first and Quincey’s fourth after a giveaway by Milan Michalek.
With 52 points in 41 games and sitting at No. 1 in the Northwest Division, Avs coach Joe Sacco wasn’t sweating a messy third period.
“We’ve had a few of those. We talk about it and we address it, but we’ve just got to stay on our toes,” Sacco said. “It’s a great way to start our trip and we’re excited about where we’re at right now.”
The road trip continues tonight in Detroit.
Spotlight on Kirk Maltby: His production has tailed off some, not that it was ever huge before. But he’s still a nettlesome presence on the ice, unflappably irritating at all times. Maltby turned 37 on Dec. 22.
AVS RECAP
The Post’s three stars
1. Craig Anderson.
Avs goalie robbed Chris Campoli and Alexei Kovalev in the end.
2. Kyle Quincey.
Defenseman had a goal, was plus-2 and played a team-high 24:55.
3. Ryan Shannon.
Ottawa winger had a two-goal performance, but his effort fell short.
What you might
have missed
Maybe faceoffs aren’t that important: The Avs only won 41 percent and still escaped with the two points.
Up next
At Detroit, tonight, 5 p.m.
