Avalanche 4, Canucks 3: Defenseman Jan Hejda scored his first goal with 7.6 seconds left in regulation and Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 24 shots for his 250th career victory as host Colorado snapped a 10-game winless streak at the hands of Vancouver.
PA Parenteau and Cody McLeod scored third-period goals and captain Gabriel Landeskog had an unassisted tally as the Avalanche posted their first regulation win over the Canucks since Oct. 3, 2009. Vancouver fell to 18-1-2 in the last 21 meetings.
Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen and defenseman Jason Garrison scored for Vancouver, which had its four-game win streak halted and its lead in the Northwest Division dip to five points over second-place Minnesota. The Wild went to a shootout before dropping a 3-2 decision to Columbus on Saturday night.
Hejda's blast from the point resullted in his first tally since March 6, 2012 and capped a three-goal third period after Parenteau had tied it by beating Cory Schneider (22 saves) with a one-timer with 7:03 to play. Garrison's shot past a screened Giguere at 3:27 of the third put the Canucks ahead 3-2 after McLeod had tied it 85 seconds earlier.
An awful giveaway by Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa led to an easy goal by Landeskog less than two minutes into the game, but the Canucks got goals from Lapierre and Hansen just over 2 1/2 minutes apart in the second to carry a 2-1 edge into the final 20 minutes.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Giguere tied Hall of Famer Johnny Bower for 45th place on the career wins list. ... Schneider, who had his string of 11 straight starts end due to illness on Wednesday, fell to 6-1-1 lifetime against Colorado. ... Avalanche RW Milan Hejduk (shoulder) sat out his sixth consecutive game while G Semyon Varlamov (hip) was sidelined for the third straight contest. D Erik Johnson (wrist) also was out. ... Canucks LW Daniel Sedin had an assist on Hansen's goal in his 900th NHL game.
Vancouver | Colorado | |
Jason Garrison 1 | Points | Jan Hejda 1 |
Jason Garrison 1 | Goals | Jan Hejda 1 |
Andrew Ebbett 1 | Assists | Tyson Barrie 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Cory Schneider .846 | Save Percentage | Jean-Sebastien Giguere .889 |
Cory Schneider 22 | Saves | Jean-Sebastien Giguere 24 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Vancouver | 27 | 3 | 0-2 | 3-3 | 6 | 21 |
Colorado | 26 | 4 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 4 | 22 |