Avalanche use power play to defeat Ducks, fourth win in five games

DENVER-- Defenseman Tyson Barrie scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 5:39 left in the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 at Pepsi Center on Friday.

The Avalanche (4-1-0) swept a two-game homestand and have won three consecutive games for the first time since March 16-20, 2016, when they defeated the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.
WATCH: All Ducks vs. Avalanche highlights
"Too long, it's been too long," Barrie said. "We're going to see if we can do four here."
Barrie scored on Colorado's eighth power play for a 2-1 lead with a shot from the right point that hit a Ducks stick and eluded goalie Reto Berra.
Anaheim starting goalie John Gibson made 17 saves in the first period but did not begin the second. He sustained an upper-body injury in the warmup and is day to day. Berra made 19 saves.
"We got performances (from the goalies) that were a waste when you look at how well they played," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We couldn't muster much offense and we did a lot of chasing of the game. They seemed to have more legs than we did. They were a faster hockey club."
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Gabriel Landeskog at 11:58 of the first period. Nikita Zadorov scored an empty-net goal with one second left in the third.

"I liked a lot of what we did," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "No. 1, we were skating, we were skating back into our zone, we had five guys in there to break out and we did that cleanly a lot. Up ice we were relentless on the puck. We created power plays, we created secondary opportunities by tracking the puck, forcing turnovers and stealing pucks. Guys are buying in and it's good to see. We earned that win."
The Ducks (2-2-1) tied it 1-1 on defenseman Brandon Montour's shorthanded goal at 2:14 of the third period with a shot past goalie Jonathan Bernier.
Bernier, who won 21 games for the Ducks last season, became an unrestricted free agent July 1 and signed a one-year, $2.75 million contract with the Avalanche.
"These games are always extra special," said Bernier, who made nine of his 17 saves in the third period. "It's always nice to get that first [win] out of the way, especially against a former team. The way we played was pretty amazing. Their goalies were pretty good and it could have been a lot worse."
The Avalanche outshot the Ducks 39-18, including 30-8 in the first two periods.

Goal of the game

Barrie put the Avalanche in front after Mikko Rantanen passed to him from down low.
"I thought our power play was working it around good all night," Barrie said. "Mikko made a good pass up to me and I was just trying to get it on net. It was a nice feeling."

Save of the game

Rantanen passed to Sven Andrighetto for a breakaway, and Berra stopped him 36 seconds into the third period.

Highlight of the game

The Avalanche were on their seventh power play when Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano raced into the Colorado end and passed back to Montour, who shot past Bernier's glove.

They said it

"I'm not sure we won two in a row (last season). Did we? I can't remember. It didn't feel like it. I said it before, it's a different group, different players, different leadership, different coaches. We're thinking about this year. I'm happy with what we're seeing, but the work's just begun and our guys know that. We know we have something to prove. Respect is going to be earned every day and it's going to take the whole season to earn it back." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"He stood tall. He was called upon to make some big stops. That's never an easy situation for a guy to come into. It was a tight game, we got it to 1-1, and he gave us a chance for sure." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle on goalie Reto Berra

Need to know

Bednar said he expects Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon will play Saturday against the Dallas Stars after sustaining an eye injury when he was high-sticked by Ducks center Derek Grant at 12:54 of the first period. "Things have settled down and it looks like he should be good to go for tomorrow," Bednar said. ... Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf was scratched because of a lower-body injury. "He had a good morning skate, but when he got back to the rink he said he wasn't capable," Carlyle said. "Day to day." ... Ducks forward Nick Ritchie played after missing three games with a lower-body injury. … Berra played 35 games for Colorado from 2013-14 to 2015-16.

What's next

Ducks: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday (9 p.m. ET; PRIME, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: At the Dallas Stars on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-SW, ALT, NHL.TV)