AVS UPENDED
Colorado rallies from a two-goal deficit to force overtime, but its six-game winning streak ends when the Penguins score the only goal in the shootout.
Where’s Sidney? That was the question of the night Sunday, as the Pittsburgh Penguins came to Denver with the best player in the NHL for theAvalanche’s final home game of the 2013-14 regular season. Where he was, was scratched. Locked into their playoff position as the No. 1 seed in the Metropolitan Division and atNo. 2 in the EasternConference, the Penguins didn’t suit up Sidney— i.e. Sidney Crosby — plus several other standouts against the Avalanche.
Without Crosby, the Penguins pulled out a 3-2 shootout victory, snapping Colorado’s winning streak at six games. The single point left Colorado four points behind first-place St. Louis in the Central Division and two ahead of third-place Chicago.
In the shootout, Tyson Barrie, Ryan O’Reilly and Gabe Landeskog allwere unsuccessful
against Pittsburgh goalie MarcAndre Fleury , while Jussi Jokinen beat Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov for the only goal of the tiebreaking sequence.
Notable Pittsburgh scratches included Crosby, leftwing Chris Kunitz and defensemen Brooks Orpik and Olli Maatta. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said all had been playing with minor injuries and that he decided to hold them out of the Penguins’ second game in two nights.
“I probably would have done the same,” Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. “It’s funny you’re saying this, because we’re thinking of doing the same toward the end, depending on where we are in the standings. We’re going to rest Varly probably the last two games.… I think they did what they thought was the right thing for their team.”
Roy conceded: “The only sad part is there’s a lot of people coming here to see Sidney Crosby play, but that’s fine. It’s part of our business and it’s the beauty of our game, actually, because I thought it was a very entertaining game. Itwas pretty open. There were a lot of scoring chances on both sides.”
The Avalanche coach said that when his players got wind of the Penguins’ scratches, “I think it was a normal reaction to say, ‘Hey, maybe we have an easier game tonight.’ But I have to give (the Penguins) credit. They worked hard.”
Star center Evgeni Malkin, who has a foot injury, also missed his eighth consecutive game. Crosby had played in all 78 of Pittsburgh’s previous games this season, and the Penguins were coming off a 4-0 loss at Minnesota on Saturday night.
After Brandon Sutter’s twosecond period goals put the Penguins ahead 2-0, the Avalanche got on the scoreboard with Ryan O’Reilly’s 28th goal of the season at 18 seconds of the third period, closing the gap to 2-1. Then Patrick Bordeleau’s goal at 16:47 of the third pulled theAvalanche into a tie. Fleury, though, finished with 39 saves in the 65 minutes of regulation and overtime and was flawless in the shootout.