Now, the Avalanche’s undoing is its struggling power play. Well, at least Sunday, it was that and Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo.
The Avalanche went 0-for-5 with the manpower advantage and Luongo made 31 saves as the Canucks beat Colorado for the fourth consecutive time this season, taking a 2-1 decision at the Pepsi Center.
The loss in the opener of the Avs’ five-game homestand dropped them eight points behind the first-place Canucks in the Northwest Division. Fourth-liners Alex Bolduc and Mason Raymond scored the Canucks’ goals against Craig Anderson, who had 27 saves in his third consecutive start.
The Avs at least made it interesting and tense in the final minutes after Paul Stastny’s goal with 6:25 remaining in regulation got Colorado within one. Vancouver held on as Luongo made several tough saves, including on Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly in one bang-bang sequence with about a minute left.
“The high altitude was kicking in there,” Luongo said. “Thank God the game was over. I don’t know how much longer I could have lasted.”
In recent weeks, the Avalanche’s major problem has been penalty killing, a weakness also involving mediocre — or worse — goaltending. But now Colorado has gone 1-for-16 on the power play in the last four games. Against the Canucks, the Avalanche didn’t have a shot on goal in its final three power plays, so Luongo’s most decisive work came when he had five saves on the two Colorado advantages in the first period and at even strength the rest of the night.
“Once we did finally get set up, I think we were trying to force it,” Stastny said. “They challenged us pretty hard, and we had to compete hard to get it out. Once we did that, we tried for force shots sometimes rather than just set it up.”
Said Duchene, who had four shots on goal and skated with Stastny on the first power-play unit: “It was a little bit of confusion. I don’t think we identified quickly enough what they were doing to us. They were overloading the strong side of the ice and outnumbering us in the corner. In the third there, we had a little more going because we had more guys in the corner and we were outnumbering them a bit more. They did a good job on the kill, and that’s why they’re one of the team teams in the league on the kill.
“Luongo made some unbelievable saves too. You look at the save he made on me on the backhand there at the end of the game, I couldn’t believe he stopped that. And he stopped ‘Factor’ (O’Reilly) on the rebound too.”
Stastny’s goal originally was waved off, but a video review confirmed that the puck was across the goal line before Luongo reached back and swiped it out of the net. It gave Stastny 300 career NHL points, and made him the third player in the 2005 draft class — joining Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar — to reach that benchmark.
“I knew it was a goal,” Stastny said. “I saw it hit the netting. I didn’t know it was 300 points for me, but I was more disappointed that I didn’t get a goal there at the end, where Johnny (John-Michael Liles) fed me both times. In my mind, I should score on those nine times out of 10, but I just didn’t get it. I shot one over the net and the other one was a routine tip I just didn’t get on net.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
The Northwest Division difference
8 points Canucks’ lead over the second-place Avalanche.
7 points Canucks’ advantage over Avs in the head-to-head series.
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Roberto Luongo.
Canucks goalie made 31 saves, losing his shutout on Paul Stastny’s goal with 6:25 left.
2. Dan Hamhuis.
Vancouver defenseman logged more than 21 minutes and did yeoman work on the penalty kill.
3. Alex Bolduc.
Fourth-line center got his first career goal to open the scoring and added an assist for Vancouver.
What you might have missed
Vancouver’s second goal, by Mason Raymond, came after the puck caromed off the glass and ended up on Raymond’s stick in the slot.
Up next
Buffalo, at the Pepsi Center, Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
