Denver: Sven Baertschi got his second goal of the game with 8:14 left, Markus Granlund also had a goal and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots for the Canucks. Vancouver has 52 points and sits in the second wild card in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Calgary. The Canucks have played two fewer games than the Flames.
Vancouver took a 2-0 lead early in the second, but the Avalanche tied it on goals by Mikko Rantanen in the second period and Matt Nieto at 6:18 of the third.
Baertschi, who had two goals against Colorado on Jan. 2, got the winner when he tipped in a pass from Henrik Sedin.
Baertschi’s backhander in front of a crowded Colorado net gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 6:55 of the first period. Granlund scored off a turnover at 7:04 of the second to make it 2-0.
Calvin Pickard had 38 saves, half of them in the first period when Vancouver threw 20 shots on net.
The Avalanche are 1-14-2 at home since Nov. 15. and have scored just 32 goals in those games. Colorado has an NHL-low 93 goals in its 47 games.
Avalanche center Matt Duchene was back in the line-up after missing Monday’s game with a stomach virus. The bug had bothered him for a few days before that, but it really knocked him down when San Jose was in town.
“I had multiple trips to the ER the day of the game,” he said. “I went in the morning and I actually went right after the game. I watched the game on TV and things still weren’t right. So they sent me back. I was there until like 3am. It was just ugly.”
Duchene sat out Tuesday’s practice but was better Wednesday morning.
“I physically couldn’t play the other night,” he said. “It was the better part of four days for me feeling terrible.”
– AP
