When the Avalanche fell behind 2-0 in the first period Sunday night against the San Jose Sharks, the Western Conference’s No. 1 team, Colorado seemed in danger of losing its fifth consecutive game and failing to lift the pall that seemed to have been hanging over the team of late.
Then, a bit improbably considering their recent struggles, the Avs didn’t fold. Sparked by Peter Mueller’s two goals, Colorado scored four consecutive times, blew that two-goal lead, then ultimately pulled out a crucial 5-4 victory over the Sharks on John-Michael Liles’ deflection of a Ryan Wilson shot past San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov at 2:59 of overtime.
Liles’ goal and the wild win at the Pepsi Center enabled the Avalanche to open up a two-point lead over Calgary in the fight for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference.
“I saw Milan Hejduk coming up the boards when I was out on the blue line, and I just gave it to him and tried to use my skating to cut through the slot,” Liles said. “He made a nice play to get the puck to Wilson, and he made kind of a shot-pass toward me and I tried to tip it and hoped it hit the net. I’m not a guy like Ryan Smyth who knows exactly where the tip’s going, so I was just trying to get it on net and get it up off the ice.”
But it went in, triggering both an empty-the-bench celebration and a feeling of relief.
“It’s the biggest win of the year,” Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. “And then the next game will be the biggest game of the year for us. It was a big win for us, especially the way we responded to being down two goals to start the game. I’m really proud of the way we hung in there and were resilient.”
On second thought, maybe it wasn’t so improbable. It was the eighth time this young team has come back from two goals down to win this season — but the first time since March 3.
Calgary lost 4-1 at Chicago on Sunday, and the Easter results mean that the Flames would have to make up three points on the Avalanche during the final week of the season to snag the postseason berth. That’s because Colorado has the edge in the tiebreaker.
If the Avs get four points in their final four games, they are in the postseason regardless of what Calgary does in its three remaining games.
Mueller’s two goals gave him 13 for the season and nine in the month he has been with Colorado since the March 3 trade with Phoenix.
Paul Stastny and Kyle Quincey scored Colorado’s other goals. Quincey’s came on a breakaway after he came out of the penalty box and took a pass from Ryan O’Reilly.
That closed the gap to 2-1 at 13:41 of the first period, and the Avalanche also killed off two Stephane Yelle minors the rest of the period to keep the deficit at one goal.
The Sharks, down 4-2 after Stastny scored 20 seconds into the third, pulled even on Patrick Marleau’s and Joe Pavelski’s goals. When regulation ended with the teams tied, the Avalanche had at least one point clinched, and Liles’ goal gave Colorado two.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Peter Mueller.
Scored two goals and had an assist for the Avalanche.
2. Ryan O’Reilly.
One assist, did key work on the penalty kill when the game could have gotten out of hand and finished plus-3 for the Avs.
3. John-Michael Liles.
Scored the winning goal in overtime.
What you might have missed
A preselected fan contestant won $10,000 in a bank promotion because the Avalanche scored during the first 20 seconds of the third period.
Up next
At Vancouver, Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
