DENVER - After the final horn sounded and the Colorado Avalanche had won their first home game of the season, the players stood at center ice and raised their sticks to the crowd.
It's been a long time since fans at Pepsi Center had something to cheer about, and the team wanted to savor with them a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night.
"It's a nod to them for coming out and paying their money," center Matt Duchene said. "Even though we're 1-3 at home we've been in every game and probably should have won two or three. We want to be a good home team."
Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots, and Duchene scored an early goal in the third period to pace the Avalanche.
Milan Hejduk and Chuck Kobasew also scored and David Jones and Kyle Quincey had two assists each for the Avalanche, who won for the first time in four games in Denver. They are 6-1 on the road.
"The guys can maybe breathe a little bit easier now," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. "I think that they were squeezing it a little bit."
Anze Kopitar and Scott Parse had goals and Jonathan Quick made 13 saves for Los Angeles. It was the Kings' first regulation loss on the road in seven games.
Duchene's winner was just his second goal of the season. He has struggled in the first month of the season and was used on the fourth line in a game last week.
"I know I'm going to get going at some point," he said. "I had two goals at this point last year, so I'm right on track."
• Oilers 4, Blues 2: In Edmonton, Alberta, Ryan Smyth had a pair of goals as the Oilers won their fifth straight.
Shawn Horcoff and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 6-1-1 at home and moved back into first place in the Western Conference with the win.
Davis Backes and Alex Pietrangelo responded for the Blues, who have lost two in a row on the heels of a three-game winning streak.
• Senators 3, Maple Leafs 2: In Ottawa, Colin Greening and Chris Neil scored power-play goals and the Senators extended their winning streak to six with a win over Toronto.
Kaspars Daugavins scored his first NHL goal to put Ottawa up 3-1 in the third. Robin Lehner stopped 22 shots in his season debut for the Senators, who moved two games over .500 at 7-5-0 after winning only one of their first six.
Clarke MacArthur scored his second goal of the game midway through the third to draw Toronto within one.
Jonas Gustavsson made 27 saves in his fourth straight start for the Maple Leafs, who had won two in a row.
• Blue Jackets 3, Ducks 1: In Columbus, Ohio, Rick Nash, rookie Ryan Johansen and Fedor Tyutin each scored for the Blue Jackets in only their second win of the season.
James Wisniewski added two assists for the Blue Jackets. Steve Mason turned-aside 18 shots, including three key saves with the Ducks on the power play and pressing for the tying goal in the second period.
Bobby Ryan scored and backup goalie Dan Ellis made 18 saves for Anaheim. The Ducks have lost five of six and are 1-2-1 on their 13-day, seven-game road trip.
Coyotes' breakdown
GLENDALE - Coach Dave Tippett likes to break down the regular season in 10-game increments. Reaching that point with Saturday night's 3-2 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Kings, the Coyotes have a 5-3-2 mark, which could be better if not for some missed chances.
"I thought we'd be 10-0; that's what I hoped for," Tippett said. "There's some areas that we like and can build on; there's some areas that we have to improve and build on.
"It's a long season. We're going to try to work on the consistency. Obviously, there's some things with a (Cal O'Reilly) coming in, we'll see where he fits in. We've got to see if we can get (defenseman) Michal Rozsival back and healthy."
O'Reilly joined the Coyotes on Saturday after being obtained from Nashville for a 2012 fourth-round draft pick. He is in the final stages of recovery from a groin injury, and may return soon.
Rozsival took a puck to the face early in the first game of the season and has not played since, but young Coyotes defensemen David Schlemko and Oliver-Ekman Larsson have ramped up their games.
"There's still a lot of upside to this group," Tippett said. "We've come through it all right."
Forward Radim Vrbata, who broke of a seven-game goal-scoring slide with two scores against the Kings, said the Coyotes, holding down the sixth spot in the Western Conference, are in a good position.
"But I still think there is still a lot of room to improve," he said. "I think during 10 games, it was a lot of up and down. We need to be consistent putting streaks together and don't have two good game and three bad ones."
Phoenix travels to Colorado on Wednesday.
The Coyotes have killed 34 of their past 37 short-handed situations, and the 4-on-3 they thwarted for 1:46 of the overtime period against the Kings was typical of that streak.
"I thought our guys did a real strong job," Tippett said. "We were in lanes, didn't give them any real good looks. It's funny how you get rewarded by that. We got a break after that, but our PK did a real good job for us.
"You're not giving any freebies out. ... You make them earn everything, don't give them free lanes, make sure you're hard on rebounds, and the bottom line is you have to have goaltending, good penalty-killing, and we've done that."
Contributing: The Arizona Republic
It's been a long time since fans at Pepsi Center had something to cheer about, and the team wanted to savor with them a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night.
"It's a nod to them for coming out and paying their money," center Matt Duchene said. "Even though we're 1-3 at home we've been in every game and probably should have won two or three. We want to be a good home team."
Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots, and Duchene scored an early goal in the third period to pace the Avalanche.
Milan Hejduk and Chuck Kobasew also scored and David Jones and Kyle Quincey had two assists each for the Avalanche, who won for the first time in four games in Denver. They are 6-1 on the road.
"The guys can maybe breathe a little bit easier now," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. "I think that they were squeezing it a little bit."
Anze Kopitar and Scott Parse had goals and Jonathan Quick made 13 saves for Los Angeles. It was the Kings' first regulation loss on the road in seven games.
Duchene's winner was just his second goal of the season. He has struggled in the first month of the season and was used on the fourth line in a game last week.
"I know I'm going to get going at some point," he said. "I had two goals at this point last year, so I'm right on track."
• Oilers 4, Blues 2: In Edmonton, Alberta, Ryan Smyth had a pair of goals as the Oilers won their fifth straight.
Shawn Horcoff and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 6-1-1 at home and moved back into first place in the Western Conference with the win.
Davis Backes and Alex Pietrangelo responded for the Blues, who have lost two in a row on the heels of a three-game winning streak.
• Senators 3, Maple Leafs 2: In Ottawa, Colin Greening and Chris Neil scored power-play goals and the Senators extended their winning streak to six with a win over Toronto.
Kaspars Daugavins scored his first NHL goal to put Ottawa up 3-1 in the third. Robin Lehner stopped 22 shots in his season debut for the Senators, who moved two games over .500 at 7-5-0 after winning only one of their first six.
Clarke MacArthur scored his second goal of the game midway through the third to draw Toronto within one.
Jonas Gustavsson made 27 saves in his fourth straight start for the Maple Leafs, who had won two in a row.
• Blue Jackets 3, Ducks 1: In Columbus, Ohio, Rick Nash, rookie Ryan Johansen and Fedor Tyutin each scored for the Blue Jackets in only their second win of the season.
James Wisniewski added two assists for the Blue Jackets. Steve Mason turned-aside 18 shots, including three key saves with the Ducks on the power play and pressing for the tying goal in the second period.
Bobby Ryan scored and backup goalie Dan Ellis made 18 saves for Anaheim. The Ducks have lost five of six and are 1-2-1 on their 13-day, seven-game road trip.
Coyotes' breakdown
GLENDALE - Coach Dave Tippett likes to break down the regular season in 10-game increments. Reaching that point with Saturday night's 3-2 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Kings, the Coyotes have a 5-3-2 mark, which could be better if not for some missed chances.
"I thought we'd be 10-0; that's what I hoped for," Tippett said. "There's some areas that we like and can build on; there's some areas that we have to improve and build on.
"It's a long season. We're going to try to work on the consistency. Obviously, there's some things with a (Cal O'Reilly) coming in, we'll see where he fits in. We've got to see if we can get (defenseman) Michal Rozsival back and healthy."
O'Reilly joined the Coyotes on Saturday after being obtained from Nashville for a 2012 fourth-round draft pick. He is in the final stages of recovery from a groin injury, and may return soon.
Rozsival took a puck to the face early in the first game of the season and has not played since, but young Coyotes defensemen David Schlemko and Oliver-Ekman Larsson have ramped up their games.
"There's still a lot of upside to this group," Tippett said. "We've come through it all right."
Forward Radim Vrbata, who broke of a seven-game goal-scoring slide with two scores against the Kings, said the Coyotes, holding down the sixth spot in the Western Conference, are in a good position.
"But I still think there is still a lot of room to improve," he said. "I think during 10 games, it was a lot of up and down. We need to be consistent putting streaks together and don't have two good game and three bad ones."
Phoenix travels to Colorado on Wednesday.
The Coyotes have killed 34 of their past 37 short-handed situations, and the 4-on-3 they thwarted for 1:46 of the overtime period against the Kings was typical of that streak.
"I thought our guys did a real strong job," Tippett said. "We were in lanes, didn't give them any real good looks. It's funny how you get rewarded by that. We got a break after that, but our PK did a real good job for us.
"You're not giving any freebies out. ... You make them earn everything, don't give them free lanes, make sure you're hard on rebounds, and the bottom line is you have to have goaltending, good penalty-killing, and we've done that."
Contributing: The Arizona Republic
No comments:
Post a Comment