NEW YORK — He played so little last season because of injury, Avalanche fans did not get to see what a good shootout specialist Alex Tanguay is. Shootouts often reward players who have the most patience with the puck, and few are as patient as Tanguay.
His game-winning goal in Round 3 of Thursday night’s best-of-three set was just another example. Tanguay outwaited New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist in the hockey version of a game of chicken, depositing a shot into the net after Lundqvist committed himself to give Colorado a 4-3 victory at Madison Square Garden.
Many in the home crowd thought Lundqvist won the duel, because Tanguay was about out of real estate and still hadn’t pulled the trigger on his shot. Tanguay had just enough of an opening from the left side, after Lundqvist went down, in which to shoot the puck. That gave the Avs a 2-1 shootout lead, which Semyon Varlamov preserved at the other end with a stop on Lee Stempniak. For just the second time this season — and for the first time in more than a month — the Avs had a road victory to celebrate.
“Nice win,” Tanguay said. “In shootouts, it’s one-on-one. It’s 50-50. The goalie’s got the advantage, I think, and Lundqvist is such a great goalie. You always look to shoot, and if you don’t see anything you look to make a move. That’s what happened there.”
One season with the Calgary Flames, they went to 16 shootouts, and Tanguay was used in every one of them. His goal Thursday made him 21-for-54 in his career (38.9 percent).
Tanguay also scored in regulation, which gave the Avs a 2-1 lead that turned into a 3-2 deficit after two periods. But Nathan MacKinnon, who scored Colorado’s other goal in the shootout, tied it up in the third with one of the few fortunate bounces he and the team have gotten lately. His shot redirected off the stick of New York’s Dan Girardi and past Lundqvist to make it 3-3 at 7:54.
The Avs almost gave this game away a couple of times at the end. But Varlamov bailed out his team, including a huge stop on Rick Nash with his right pad to send the game to overtime.
“I thought our guys were really solid for 35 minutes, and all I wanted was for us to play another solid 20 minutes, and I think a good job in the third. I felt we gave a little too much, but I thought our guys showed urgency and worked hard,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said. “That’s what we wanted to see. Varly was solid a couple of times at the end.”
Tanguay almost won the game in overtime with a set of nifty moves, but he hit the post with a backhander. His line — with Matt Duchene (one goal, one assist) and Ryan O’Reilly — was the Avalanche’s best of the night.
“We showed some resiliency,” Duchene said. “But there’s no reason to be high right now. We’re nowhere near where we want to be. We’ve got to keep our heads buried and not look up until we’re where we want to be.”
Adrian Dater: adater@denverpost.com or
