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Tuesday, Nov. 30 10:30pm ET
Podein's goal puts Colorado up to stay | |||||
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BOX SCORE
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- A short memory might be the key to Patrick Roy's success. Able to forget the seven goals he gave up in his last outing, Roy was back to his superb self, stopping 23 shots and holding the fort in helping the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 win Tuesday night over the Vancouver Canucks.
"I don't know if it's because I've been in the league for 15 years. It doesn't bother me," said Roy, referring to his last outing, Friday's 7-0 loss to Phoenix. "I've never been a very good goaltender when my team is down by two or three goals and I don't care about if I'm not a good goaltender in that situation." Give him a late lead, however, and it's a different story. Roy recorded his 420th career win and moved within three of tying Tony Esposito for third place on the career victory list. After Shjon Podein broke a 2-2 tie by scoring an opportunistic goal 45 seconds into the third period, Roy was unbeatable. His biggest stop was a brilliant glove save in which he snatched away what appeared to be a sure goal when Markus Naslund was set up for a backhander in front of the net six minutes into the third period. "These saves for some reason are always a lot easier when you're ahead," said Roy, who earned only his second win in his last seven appearances (2-4-1). "(Naslund) made a great play. ... Fortunately for me it hit my glove." The Avalanche made the best of their breaks by playing an efficient road game. Martin Skoula, Milan Hejduk and Brian Rolston also scored for the Avalanche, who improved to 11-11-3-1, and moved within a point of the Northwest Division-leading Canucks. Vancouver, winless in its last five games (0-3-2), couldn't capitalize. Trailing 4-2, with 3:32 left in regulation, the Canucks blew a chance to get back into the game when Andrew Cassels shot wide on a penalty shot. Cassels was awarded the penalty shot when he was tripped up by Sandis Ozolinsh while going to the net. The penalty shot also came 30 seconds after Canucks coach Marc Crawford gambled by pulling his goalie for an extra attacker. The Canucks played most of the last four minutes without a goalie, but failed to capitalize. Missing offensive threats Mark Messier (right knee) and Alexander Mogilny (back), the Canucks goals came from defensemen Greg Hawgood and Adrian Aucoin. Crawford, who's 0-2-2 against his former team since he took over the Canucks last January, wasn't disappointed with Vancouver's effort despite the loss. "There was nothing to be disappointed with tonight, the effort was great," Crawford said. "The outcome wasn't what we wanted, but if we keep this type of work going, then we'll end up on the positive side of the ledger on more nights than not. "Tonight the difference was that they got a timely save when they needed it, and maybe a timely goal." Podein was in the right place at the right time. Just on the ice, following a line change, Podein picked off Todd Bertuzzi's lazy clearing pass inside the Canucks' blueline. Taking a couple of steps toward the left-faceoff circle, he snapped a shot that floated in over Kevin Weekes' glove. Podein joked that it's not how hard the shot is, but its placement. "It's funny, if you watch the games around the league there's some goals going in that all you've got to do is hit the net sometimes," Podein said. "I don't know if Weekes saw it or it caught him off guard, just a little knuckleball. But you've got to hit the net to score." The Avalanche, who never trailed, sealed the win with 6:16 left when Chris Drury banged a shot off the post and Rolston deposited the rebound into the open side. Colorado, which entered the game with the league's best power-play, went 2-for-5 with the man advantage, and have scored two or more power-play goals in seven games this season. The Canucks' power-play finally got on track, going a modest 1-for-5, as Aucoin's goal was only Vancouver's second in its last 34 chances, a stretch of 11 games. Colorado center Joe Sakic, one point from reaching the 1,000-point plateau, sat out his second straight game with a rib-cartilage strain. The Colorado captain has missed seven of nine games and is expected to be out of action at least another week. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Colorado Clubhouse Vancouver Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 2 Chicago 1
Colorado 4
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