Highlights:
Anderson Pre-Game:
Anderson Post Game:
Game Recap:
DENVER — Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie could get used to scoring overtime goals. He got the second one in his NHL career Wednesday in a 4-3 come-from-behind win against the Ottawa Senators at Pepsi Center.
“It’s awesome. It’s pretty exciting to see the guys come off the bench,” said Barrie, who scored 33 seconds into OT after taking a passout from Paul Stastny, whose goal with 2:20 left in the third tied the game. “That’s a huge two points for us.”
Barrie beat goalie Craig Anderson with a shot from the right hash marks after calling for the puck from Stastny, who was behind the Senators net.
“We had a good shift and got it into their end,” Barrie said. “I think one of their guys was without a stick and it was pretty crowded in front. I called to Paul behind the net and I just tried to get open. With the type of passer Paul is, I knew he was going to find me. It was just a matter of trying to beat the goalie. I got it and was trying to go high blocker. I thought I saw some room on the right side and tried to put it there and fortunately it went in.”
The Avalanche tied the game after Anderson made a spectacular save against Gabriel Landeskog, who had beaten the defense and broken in alone on the goalie. Stastny followed the play and knocked in the rebound.
“A character win for us,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. “I liked the play by Landy when he drove that net and then Paul picked up the loose puck. That’s what we needed. Landy showed why he’s the captain of the team with Paul an assistant captain. They are leaders of this team. They showed great leadership by playing so well at the end of the game.”
The win gave the Avalanche a 4-1-1 record on a seven-game homestand that ends Friday against the New York Islanders. The Avalanche were coming off a disappointing 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames.
“This is an important stretch in our season,” Roy said. “Especially with the number of injuries that we have, it’s good for the confidence of our team. It was important to play a good game and it was nice to be rewarded by the effort we put in at the end.”
The loss ended the Senators’ winning streak at four games, but they picked up a valuable point and are 5-1-2 in their past eight games.
“I think we got what we deserved,” Senators coach Paul MacLean said. “They played very good to start the game and very good to end the game. In between we were in control. You come on the road and get a point after being down 2-0 in the first five minutes, I think we earned the point.”
Down 2-0 early in the first period, the Senators scored two goals 1:25 apart in the second to take a 3-2 lead.
Jason Spezza, who missed the previous four games because of a hip flexor, tied the game at 12:53 during a 5-on-3 advantage. Spezza was parked to the right of Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov when he tucked Clarke MacArthur’s pass inside the left post.
Kyle Turris scored four seconds after the end of the ensuing 5-on-4 advantage at 14:18 with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Mark Stone.
“I don’t think we ran out of gas, I think we just got too passive,” Spezza said of his team’s play at the end of the third period. “We got away from what we were doing so well. I think if you look at the start of that third period, we cycled, we held on to it and were in full control, and then from the last TV timeout on I don’t think we got the puck below their blue line. It’s a good team that comes fast and we’re on the road, and the team’s got momentum and we didn’t handle it as well as we should have.”
The Avalanche took a quick 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda, but the Senators answered late on a goal by MacArthur, stretching his goal-scoring streak to four games.
McGinn, who has four goals in the past five games, connected for his 10th of the season at 2:19 on Colorado’s lone power play of the game. Nick Holden passed across to Erik Johnson at the right point for a shot that McGinn deflected past Anderson from the right hash marks.
The Senators killed 20 of 21 penalties in the previous six games.
Hejda made it 2-0 at 4:54 with a shot from just inside the blue line that beat Anderson, who was screened by Landeskog, to the stick side. The goal was Hejda’s fifth, matching his career high.
The Senators got on the board at 15:02 after Avalanche defenseman Andre Benoit lost the puck and fell in his own end. Bobby Ryan scooped up the puck, skated behind the Avalanche net, and passed to MacArthur in the slot for a shot that eluded Varlamov.
“We came out a little flat in the first,” Anderson said. “They came out flying. We bounced back and we were able to get one in the first to get momentum for the second. That showed the work ethic of our guys.
“We lost our momentum with seven or eight minutes to go. They came at us hard. I played here four years ago. They were a late team that made a push at the end. We knew it was coming and they won the game.”