PITTSBURGH — After talking to Avalanche coach Patrick Roy and defenseman Francois Beauchmin, it’s crystal clear without looking at the video: Beauchemin’s game-changing high-sticking minor on Matt Cullen was a bad and costly call. But it shouldn’t have cost the Avs the game. In the end, Sidney Crosby’s back-handed five-hole goal with 8:04 remaining was the difference in the Penguins’ 4-3 win.
Reto Berra didn’t look like the NHL goals-against average and save percentage leader and the Avs allowed Crosby’s game-winning goal shortly after Tyson Barrie got the Avs within 3-2 midway through the third period. On multiple levels, chalk this down to another example of how Colorado doesn’t know how to win on a regular basis.
“He told me he thought I hit (Cullen) in the face. I told him ‘there’s no way’ and there was not even a motion of his head going up. It was stick on stick. That ended up costing up two goals after that. Instead of being up 1-0 and still having a power play and maybe making it 2-0, boom, a little stick (on stick). They all make mistakes, like everybody.” — Beauchemin
Colorado is 3-2 on its season-long seven-game road trip and next plays Saturday against the Capitals in Washington. Roy declined to say if he’ll make a goaltending change, but certainly, it seems like a good time to give Calvin Pickard a start before sending him down. Seymon Varlamov has been practicing and appears ready to play; he is eligible to come off injured reserve. I imagine Pickard or Varlamov will play against the Caps.
Roy is not happy with the Avs’ lack of scoring depth. The Nathan MacKinnon-centered line with Gabe Landeskog and Matt Duchene (two goals) combined for 14 of Colorado’s 31 shots. They are buzzing and feared. The Avs need much more from newcomers Carl Soderberg and Blake Comeau, among others. Mikhail Grigorenko, on the other hand, is coming around just fine. He had three shots and was plus-2 in 17:56 against the Pens. “Grigs,” who assisted on the goal below, has five points in his last four games. He played 16:38 at Montreal and 20:14 at Toronto. And he’s only 21.
Matt Duchene has nine goals in his last eight games, and 15 points in his last nine.
