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Friday, Oct. 20 9:00pm ET
Avs off to club-best start | |||||
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DENVER (AP) -- On a night when he was honored as the league's winningest goalie, Patrick Roy wanted the spotlight to be on his team's best-ever start. Roy celebrated his first home appearance since his record 448th victory with 24 saves and an assist as the Colorado Avalanche beat the winless Florida Panthers 5-1 Friday night. "I wanted to really focus on the game," Roy said. "I wanted to have a good game because of the way things are going for our team." Peter Forsberg helped with two goals and an assist. "I didn't want to just go out there and play an OK game," Roy said. "I know nobody would be mad at me or forgive me for that because tonight was kind of my night, but my teammates deserve a lot. And they deserve a good game from me, even if it was a great ceremony and all that." Forsberg scored power-play and short-handed goals to improve his goal-scoring streak to four games and point streak to six (7-4-11). Chris Drury and Joe Sakic each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, off to the best start in franchise history (6-0-2). Roy, who passed Terry Sawchuk as the NHL's winningest goalie with an overtime victory last Tuesday at Washington, had his shutout bid spoiled by Ray Whitney at 15:00 of the third period. The start of the game was delayed 25 minutes to honor the 35-year-old Roy. Trevor Kidd stopped 34 shots and denied the Avalanche with seven sterling stops on a 5-on-3 advantage. The Panthers fell to 0-2-1-2, their worst start in eight years of the franchise. "Apologies are owed Trevor Kidd because we were embarrassing," Whitney said. "We were outclassed, outworked by a team whose every top player played hard for three periods." Colorado coach Bob Hartley wasn't worried about what effect the special night would have on his team. "No, I really liked it," Hartley said. "Like Patrick just said, everyone arriving at the rink was anxious to get it going because basically that puts a cover on Patrick's record for now." "Tonight with the ceremony before the game, obviously all those could have been distractions for the hockey club. But the players deserve a lot of credit. We had great focus. I could feel great game preparation. That was very important for our start." With the crowd still buzzing from pre-game festivities, Ray Bourque scored his first goal of the season at 4:15 of the first period. Forsberg sent the puck high in the slot to Drury, who dropped a pass to Bourque for a slap shot that went past Kidd's glove, for his 1,527th career point, tying Boston's Paul Coffey for most points by a defenseman. "I think we showed some lack of composure in some situations," Florida coach Terry Murray said. "We are playing against good hockey clubs, you're going to get tested. You have to respond the right way." Colorado extended its lead to 2-0 at 11:53 of the period on Drury's power-play goal. Jon Klemm sent the puck around the boards to Alex Tanguay in the right circle. Tanguay sent a cross-ice pass to Drury, who beat Kidd with a one-timer for his third goal of the season. The Panthers matched Colorado's nine shots in the first period, but came no closer than Igor Larionov's wrist shot from the lower left circle that Roy steered behind the net. Play was halted briefly when Colorado's Scott Parker had a brief skirmish with Peter Worrell that earned Parker a game misconduct 7:25 into the game. Just 45 seconds into the second period, Forsberg converted a pass from Sakic into a short-handed goal. Roy deflected the puck ahead to Sakic for an assist. The Panthers killed a 5-on-3 penalty that included a five-minute major on Len Barrie, but Adam Foote set up Forsberg in front of the net for a power-play goal with 12 seconds left on the minor to Paul Laus at 7:59, making it 4-0. "The new rules are opening the ice and we are creating a lot of chances," Forsberg said. "We're unbeaten and there is no reason for us to have a letdown." Game notesBarrie received a game misconduct early in the second period for high-sticking Drury in front of Florida's crease. ... Colorado has at least one power-play goal in six consecutive games and at least two in four straight. ... Florida, which outshot its first four opponents, was outshot 39-25 by Colorado. ... Roy received a personalized golf cart, a silver goalie stick and a bronze statue of himself in pre-game ceremonies. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Florida Clubhouse Colorado Clubhouse RECAPS Anaheim 2 Buffalo 2
Colorado 5 AUDIO/VIDEO   Ray Bourque opens the scoring for Colorado.avi: 661 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Joe Sakic puts in an Adam Deadmarsh pass for the fifth Avalanche goal.avi: 688 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||