Thanks to two fluky goals from defenseman Francois Beauchemin and another solid goaltending effort from Semyon Varlamov, the Avalanche managed to overcome the dreaded home-ice disadvantage Thursday night at the Pepsi Center.
The 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders was Colorado’s fourth straight, following a three-game sweep on the road trip to Nashville, St. Louis and Chicago. The goals from Beauchemin were his fourth and fifth of the season, and Varlamov had 33 saves in the Colorado net.
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The tiebreaking goal came with 3:48 left, when Beauchemin uncharacteristically chased down a rebound in the left corner, behind the goal line, fired it in front and saw it bounce off the skate of Islanders center Mikhail Grabovski and in, making a hard-luck loser of New York goalie Thomas Greiss.
“When we made those turnovers and mistakes, Varly was there again to keep us in it and give us a chance to win,” Beauchemin said. “Some nights, that’s just what you need — your goalie to be hot and get a lucky bounce at the end to get that two points.”
The win made the Avs 5-7-1 at home and 16-16-1 overall, and closed them to within three points of Nashville, currently holding down the last wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Predators fell 2-1 to the Blues at St. Louis and remained at 36 points.
Yes, there still are 49 games remaining for the Avalanche, and meticulously charting playoff position at this point might seem a reach. But not long ago, it seemed that Colorado was digging a hole that might be impossible to climb out of, and dominating at home while treading water on the road from here on would make the task considerably less daunting.
The Avalanche led the Islanders 1-0 at 3:48 of the first period when Beauchemin’s soft shot from the right point — he was just trying to get it on net — eluded a screened Greiss.
The Islanders finally beat Varlamov on a power play at 4:55 of the second. Erik Johnson was in the box for high-sticking, his second minor of the night, when Brock Nelson’s shot from the top of the slot made it through traffic — with Anders Lee screening Varlamov — and made it 1-1.
But Beauchemin’s second goal put the Avalanche back on top.
“It feels great obviously to get two goals,” Beauchemin said. “It doesn’t happen too often for me, but … the first one I just kept the puck in the zone, just threw a little wrister at the net and it found its way in.”
He added of the game-winner: “I was going in on the play and just happened to get the rebound and just saw guys in front. I just threw it there, hoping it would hit somebody there and go in, which it did.”
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said of Beauchemin’s contribution: “Two big goals for us tonight. Sometimes when you put pucks at the net, good things happen. The first one, (Andreas) Martinsen did a really good job, great screen in front, and the goalie could not see anything. On the second one, (Beauchemin) just put it in front of the net.”
Roy called it a “character” win. “I really feel that our guys have showed character out there and it would be easy to be satisfied after those three wins. I thought that we came back and played a strong game,” he said. “I think we were very determined to play well in front of our fans and play a good game.”
Colorado won despite a pointless night from the loaded-up top line, with Gabe Landeskog (five shots), Nathan MacKinnon (one) and Matt Duchene (one) putting on pressure, but not breaking through.
The Avalanche has two more home games before the NHL’s Christmas break, against Edmonton on Saturday and Toronto on Monday.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei
