Avs wrap up December to remember
Colorado goes 9- 3- 2 in its merry month and climbs into playoff contention.
In the fourth sellout at Pepsi Center this season, the Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks treated an appreciative New Year’s Eve crowd to a back- and- forth affair that required 3- on- 3 overtime.
The 3- on- 3, however, turned into a 4- on- 3 Chicago power play because of a Colorado bench minor for a bad line change and captain Jonathan Toews won it for the visitors with a roofed wrist shot from the side of the crease.
Final score Thursday: 4- 3 Blackhawks, who snapped an eightgame losing streak against goalie Semyon Varlamov ( 39 saves).
Nonetheless, the Avs ( 18- 17- 3) finished December 9- 3- 2 to climb to ninth in the Western Conference, just four points out of a wild- card playoff spot. They are 7- 2- 1 in the Central Division, hockey’s toughest loop.
“We got a point. Obviously disappointed to not get two. But it’s better than nothing,” said Avs defenseman Erik Johnson, who forced overtime by scoring with 4: 55 remaining in regulation. “If you told us at the start of the month that’s what we’d do, we’d take it. That’s a really good month and something to build off coming into the new year.”
Colorado rallied from a 3- 1 defi-
cit. Avs winger Jarome Iginla did not score and remains one goal away from becoming the 19th player to reach 600 goals. But Johnson provided a dramatic moment for bipartisan crowd in burgundy and blue. His rush fromthe neutral zone resulted in a forehand shot that sneaked by goalie Scott Darling.
“I hadn’t rushed the puck too much and had a little bit of gas. I saw a lane and weaved my way through traffic,” Johnson said. “You’re always shooting to score but a shot on the ice sometimes fools him.”
Chicago ( 22- 13- 4) outshot the Avs 28- 14 after two periods but only led 3- 2. In the second period, the Blackhawks cruised to a 3- 1 lead by carrying the momentum they had at the end of the first, and got goals from Andrew Desjardins at 2: 07 and Patrick Kane ( power play) at 4: 20.
“In the second we were horrible. They dominated us,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said. “If it weren’t for Varly, it would have been a 6- 2 game.”
Colorado’s defensive positional play was poor. Johnson and Francois Beauchemin let the weakside forward ( Desjardins) roam free and Teuvo Teravainen found Desjardins for a relatively easy redirect past Varlamov.
Kane’s goal was superstar stuff, but the Avs defense allowed the 2on- 1 rush to develop and Kane buried Artemi Panarin’s circle- to-circle feed. Earlier this month, Kane was pointless and didn’t produce a shot in the Avs’ 3- 0 win in Chicago, snapping Kane’s 26game points streak.
“It wasn’t one of our better games. We didn’t play very good, especially in the second,” Johnson said. “In the second we were lucky to get out down by just a goal. We said between periods going into the third we have a chance to get a point or two if we play better. We managed to get a point but it’s frustrating to lose on after taking a bench penalty in overtime.”
Chicago was in domination mode before and after Kane’s goal until fourth- line Avs forward Cody McLeod used defenseman Brent Seabrook as a screen and fired a wrister past goalie Scott Darling midway through the second period. At that point, the Avs seemed fortunate to be in a onegoal game.
But early on, Colorado was buzzing Darling and scored the opening goal 4: 04 into the game, with Carl Soderberg capitalizing on the first power play. It marked the 11th consecutive game the Avs scored first in a December to remember, a month Soderberg was Colorado’s leading scorer.