The marquee had a good headline: No. 1 NHL pick against No. 3 NHL pick, John Tavares of the Islanders against Matt Duchene of the Avalanche. But sometimes the show doesn’t live up to its billing.
Neither high draft choice recorded a point in Wednesday night’s matchup at the Pepsi Center, although Duchene would have if not for a tremendous save by Islanders veteran Dwayne Roloson.
Duchene was robbed on a one-timer after a nice crossing pass from Darcy Tucker, with Duchene looking skyward with disbelief when it didn’t go in.
“I had the open net and he just dove across and made a tremendous save,” Duchene said. “Nine times out of 10, that goes in. It’s frustrating. I had one in the second that should have been a goal, but sometimes that happens when you run into a hot goalie.”
Tavares was fairly quiet all night, not getting a shot on net, though he did finish plus-1.
McLeod slumping.
Avs left wing Cody McLeod remains in a deep goal-scoring slump.
He went his 20th consecutive game without a goal Wednesday. His most recent goal was Nov. 23 against Philadelphia.
Footnotes.
Entering the game, no team in the NHL had received better scoring production from their rookies than the Avalanche. Colorado’s rookies had a combined 76 points (26 goals). Three Avs ranked in the top 10 in rookie scoring. . . . Fourth-line center Matt Hendricks, who scored the Avs’ second goal, had three shots in 7:11 of ice time. Those were three more than first-line center Paul Stastny had in nearly 20 minutes.
