Look who is unbeaten
Parenteau’s two goals, Varlamov’s goaltending improve Avs to 2-0 under Roy
It wasn’t the goal party of Wednesday night’s season opener, but when the final horn sounded, therewas still the same celebratory feel inside the Pepsi Center on Friday night.
Don’t look now, but Patrick Roy’s Avalanche team is 2-0 after Friday’s 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators.
The Avs rode P.A. Parenteau’s two goals to the tough win and got an empty-net goal with a minute left to seal it.
“We played a full 60 minutes,” Parenteau said. “Aside from a couple mistakes defensively, I thought we played a real strong game against a real tough team to play against. If we can get more confident from games like that, we’ll be dangerous down the road.”
For the second consecutive game, theAvs got away with something of a slow start, as the Predators had a few excellent scoring chances in the opening minutes and had them pinned in their zone.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov made the stops to keep it scoreless, and then Parenteau broke the deadlock with his first goal of the season.
Parenteau scored with 1:10 left in the period, putting home a rebound in the left crease past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne.
Rookie Nathan MacKinnon picked up an assist, his third point in two games.
TheAvs took a 2-0 lead at the 7:54 mark of the second period, with the fourth line rewarded for a great shift. The hardest worker, Patrick Bordeleau, got the goal, tipping a
Nate Guenin shot past Rinne.
Bordeleau kept a couple of loose pucks in the Predators zone before the puckwent back to the point to Guenin, who put a slapper on net that Bordeleau redirected. Marc-André Cliche recorded an assist, his firstNHL point after many years in the minors.
“We didn’t play as good aswe did as a teamWednesday night (in a 6-1 debut victory overAnaheim), but we found a way to win, which is the important thing,” Bordeleau said. “Everyone worked their tails off.”
(Bordeleau’s) goalwas big for us,” Roy said, “and it just goes to show, it’s everybody’s team. … Everybody can bring something to the table with this team.”
But the Predators weren’t about to go quietly. They cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:10 of the second on Paul Gaustad’s first goal.
Avswinger SteveDowniewas a physical presence in the game. He injured Nashville defenseman Roman Josi with a big hit and was assessed a charging penalty that might draw the attention ofNHLdirector of player safety Brendan Shanahan in the coming days.
Downie retaliated afterNashville defenseman Shea Weber jabbed Matt Duchene in the face a couple of times with his glove. Downiewas involved in a fight in the third period with Nashville’s Eric Nystrom and took a high stick to the eye from Craig Smith earlier, which drew a penalty.