It was a game that had all the passion of a term life insurance seminar.
About 12,000 fans filed into the Pepsi Center on Thursday night to face the NHL’s orphan child, the Phoenix Coyotes. Two-and-a-half uneventful hours later, they filed out having witnessed a 2-0 Coyotes victory behind journeyman backup goal-tender Jason LaBarbera.
This was the kind of loss the Avs would look back on with regret should they finish out of the playoffs by a point or two in the mosh-pit crowded Western Conference standings.
Taylor Pyatt’s backhand goal at 9:35 of the first period, after Avs goalie Craig Anderson had dropped a routine shot and left a big rebound, improbably stood up as the game-winner. Pyatt added an empty-netter with 20 seconds left to send the remaining, cricket-quiet crowd to the exits.
The Avs didn’t play with much fire, especially in the first two periods, in dropping their fourth game at home in the last five (1-3-1).
“We just didn’t have our legs tonight or play with the zip we usually have,” Avs center Matt Duchene said.
The Coyotes’ trapping, conservative defense frustrated the Avs all night, as they had only a handful of truly good scoring chances against LaBarbera. That’s the Coyotes’ game plan under coach Dave Tippett — play risk-free in the neutral zone and hope to take advantage of turnovers by luring opponents into a catatonic state. The Avs fell into the trap.
“It was a very blah game out there,” Duchene said. “No one on either side got many chances at all. It’s disappointing, but we’re looking forward to Saturday now” against the Islanders.
Matt Hunwick had among the best of the Avs’ chances, a backhander off Duchene’s rebounded shot with about eight minutes left in the third. But LaBarbera stuck out his right pad to make the save. Milan Hejduk had a great opportunity from the right side with about three minutes left, but he fumbled a pass to him and never got a shot off.
“I think we certainly tried. We had some chances,” Avs coach Joe Sacco said. “You have to give Phoenix some credit; they play with a lot of structure.”
The Avs got a poor showing from their top two lines. Duchene had just one shot on net among Colorado’s 34, and Paul Stastny had three in a minus-2 showing after a one-game flu absence.
Anderson stopped 32-of-33 shots and is starting to look like his old self again but bemoaned the one that got away. That started when he dropped Vernon Fiddler’s perfunctory shot on the left side and Pyatt backhanded it in as Hunwick (minus-1 for the fourth time in the last five games) was late getting back to the side.
“I’ve got to control my rebound,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to score goals to win a game. One goal shouldn’t really matter in a game like that, but tonight it did. Anytime you miss a month of hockey with an injury, it’s going to be awhile until you get back into your little groove. For me, I had some growing pains coming back and wasn’t playing the way I wanted to. I had to battle through it into feeling better again on the ice and I think I’ve started to do that.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Taylor Pyatt.
Scored both goals for Phoenix.
2. Jason LaBarbera.
Pitched the shutout in net for Phoenix.
3. Philippe Dupuis.
Hustled hard for Avs and got a team-high five shots.
What you might have missed
The Avs had a season- low two penalty minutes. It was the team’s fewest in a game since Dec. 26, 2009, against Dallas (also two).
Up next
New York Islanders, Saturday at 1 p.m.
