Calvin Pickard paces Avalanche to win

DENVER -- Calvin Pickard had 25 saves to help the Colorado Avalanche end a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.
Tyson Barrie had a goal and two assists for the Avalanche (18-44-3). Colorado is 9-21-2 at home.
"Obviously it's been a disappointing year for us," Barrie said. "We just had a meeting with a few of the guys and we know we have to be better, and that's no shock to anybody really. I thought we did a good job tonight, but it's got to be consistent every night going forward. We're building the team to go forward for next year, too, so we want leave with some confidence and show that we are the guys that can lead this group."

WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Avalanche highlights
Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon also scored for Colorado. MacKinnon scored into an empty net with 49.8 seconds left for his 13th goal and first in 16 games.
Justin Faulk scored for the Hurricanes (26-27-10), who went 1-1-0 on a two-game road trip. Carolina is 1-3-2 in the past six games.
"I don't think we generated a whole bunch from start to finish," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "If you get two [goals] you're still playing some bonus hockey, some overtime or into a shootout."
The Hurricanes had a 1-0 lead and were on a power play at 11:56 of the second period when a goal by Teuvo Teravainen was disallowed because of goalie interference when Sebastian Aho caught Pickard in the neck with his stick.
"I was caught off-guard and it seemed like I was doing a barrel roll there on the ice," Pickard said. "I was definitely happy it didn't count."
The Avalanche went ahead 2-1 late in the second when Landeskog and Barrie scored 46 seconds apart.
Landeskog tied the game at 1-1 with two seconds left on a power play, at 18:18. Barrie made it 2-1 at 19:04 with a shot from the right circle that skimmed under goalie Eddie Lack's right arm for his sixth goal.
"We go from playing catch-up into the driver's seat," Pickard said. "Our third period was great."
The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead on Faulk's goal at 6:08 of the first period. Jeff Skinner passed to Faulk in the right circle for a shot that beat Pickard to the short side for his 12th goal. Faulk had gone nine games without a point.
"I wasn't thrilled about that goal," Pickard said. "When goals are tough to come by you have to make the saves we should make. It's never good getting off to that start and we've had some tough starts. We stuck with it and played good defense and got a couple timely goals."

Goal of the game

The Avalanche ended an 0-for-23 drought on the power play when Landeskog tipped Barrie's shot past Lack for his 15th goal.

Save of the game

Pickard made a glove save against Faulk at 15:13 of the second period. Pickard denied Victor Rask's shot from the left side and the rebound went to Faulk in the right circle.

Highlight of the game

Avalanche forward Sven Andrighetto was carrying the puck wide when he spotted Barrie low in the right circle and fed him with a saucer pass.

Unsung performance of the game

MacKinnon had a goal and five shots in 18:30. He also played 1:19 on the power play and 1:26 on the penalty kill.

They said it

"It's really special, growing up here watching the Avs play and growing up 30 minutes from here. It's definitely really special to come back and play here at the Pepsi Center, a lot of memories here." -- Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who is from Erie, Colo.
"Our core guys tonight, they were driving the bus, and that's what we need from them. We had a couple meetings over the last few days about trying to get that group to step up all at the same time."-- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"It was definitely nice to get back on the winning note. It's been tough sledding for a while. Everybody played their game tonight and when we do that we can compete with anybody." -- Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard
"I thought we skated well, but obviously we didn't put enough pucks in the net, so that's what we have to do better." -- Hurricanes forward Victor Rask

Need to know

Slavin assisted on Faulk's goal to extend his assist streak to five games ... Landeskog has five points (four goals, one assist) in the past six games ... Pickard had gone 0-3-1 since a 2-1 overtime win at Carolina on Feb. 17.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the New York Rangers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, MSG, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: Host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, MSG+, NHL.TV)