Patrick Roy after the Avs’ 4-3 OT loss to the Florida Panthers at the Pepsi Center:
The game story from colleague Nick Groke is . Avalanche loses 4-3 in overtime, on Brad Boyes’s bomb on a 4-on-3 advantage. Colorado defenseman Brad Stuart was in the box for tripping, in what appeared like embellishment by Florida forward Aleksander Barkov behind the Avs’ net. In the third period, and also behind the Avs’ net, Stuart was tripped by Tomas Fleishchmann, an obvious infraction that was not called. Which partly explains why the Avs’ dressing room was nearly empty of players when it was opened to the media. The Avs fall to 1-4-2, but seemingly nobody wanted to talk about the result or referees Brad Meier and Ian Walsh.
The following is what is not in the game story.
“I’m not going to say much about it (because) I’ll get myself in trouble,” Stuart said. “But I don’t agree with it, I’ll say that much — especially after I got hauled down in the third, right in front of him and he doesn’t call it.”
Avs center Matt Duchene also pleaded the fifth.
“I’d like to say stuff but I’m not going to,” he said. “It’s frustrating.”
Here’s what Boyes said of the refs: “There were two calls that we didn’t think were the right calls, but at the same time they let a couple of ours go late in the game that they owed us, so I don’t know if that evened out.”
Bottom line, the Avs laid an egg in the first period, going down 2-0, and were outshot for the fifth time in seven games (36-33 against the Panthers)
“Right now the way I look at, is we want an easy game,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said. “Until we’re where we want to compete at the level we were last year, we’re going to struggle. We’re not sharp mentally.”
Roy says his team continually fails to play a solid 60-minute game:
Not all was lost against the Panthers in a three-point game. The Avs get one.
“It’s a big point, and hopefully at the end of the year we’re looking back on this point,” Duchene said.
The Avs were 1-of-5 on the power play after two periods. The Panthers did not have a power play in the first 40 minutes. Was it a matter of evening it out at the end? … Many thought Jarome Iginla collected his first goal in a Colorado sweater to give the Avs a 3-2 lead. But Alex Tanguay’s feed to the net-crashing Iginla went in off a D-man’s skate. Iginla, however, got an assist on the play for his team-high fourth of the season, and he passed Bobby Hull (1,170 points) for sole possession of 49th place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list with 1,171 points. Tanguay scored a goal for the third straight game, his first three-game goal streak since April 2011 when he was with Calgary. … Ryan O’Reilly had assists on the Avs’ two power play goals. … Tyson Barrie unleashed his wicked shot several times before scoring his first goal of the season, during the same power play. … Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo posted his 375th career victory, passing John Vanbiesbrouck for 13th place on the all-time wins list.
Alex Tanguay:
