The Colorado Avalanche picked up an impressive 4-2 road win against the league-leading Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
With the win, the Avalanche (36-30-12) continue hang on for dear life on the verge of playoff elimination. The club sits six points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with just four games remaining on the schedule.
The Ducks (50-23-7) are soundly in the playoffs, but the loss is a blow to the club’s President’s Trophy aspirations.
Goaltender Reto Berra was impressive in his second consecutive start for the Avalanche. He turned in his fourth win of the season despite his club being outshot 37-23.
Matt Duchene was the best player on the ice in this one. The 24year-old registered the game-winning goal, one assist, and a plus-1 rating while winning 75 percent of his faceoffs. He has six point sin his last five games.
After an early Avalanche goal was called off due to goalie interference, John Mitchell opened the scoring at 6:33 of the opening period. Jarome Iginla made a sweet backhand pass across the crease and Mitchell buried the one-timer.
Jiri Sekac provided a quick answer for the Ducks and tied the game 58 seconds later on a breakaway.
The Ducks took their only lead of the game just before the first period concluded. The puck bounced off of Corey Perry’s stick as he attempted a rebound and Rickard Rakell cleaned up the trash in front of the net.
Gabriel Landeskog evened the score at two with a second period power play goal on a nice feed from Alex Tanguay.
Duchene’s game-winner came midway through the third period. He drove wide aroundt the defense and pulled one of his patented forehand-to-backhand moves to pull the puck to the inside and quickly fire a shot past goalie John Gibson.
Dennis Everberg scored his third career NHL goal on the empty net to seal the victory.
“I consider myself very lucky that this is my group,” Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy said. “They’re working hard night after night and being resilient right now. I know that our chances aren’t looking good and we need a miracle right now. But at the same time, I feel that we focused on playing the game tonight and we’re going to focus on playing tomorrow night.”
The Avalanche will continue to fight for their slim playoff chances when they complete the second half of their back-to-back series on the road Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
Nathan is a staff writer for Mile High Sports. He can be reached on Twitter at @TheRealNatron.
