Barrie plays hero as Avalanche get past Rangers via shootout
The Colorado Avalanche keep losing players and winning games.
Tyson Barrie scored in the final minute of regulation, and then scored again in the shootout, leading Colorado to a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
Semyon Varlamov had 29 saves for Colorado, which has won five in a row. Varlamov also stopped each of New York's attempts in the shootout.
Four of Colorado's wins during the streak have come in overtime or a shootout. On Tuesday in Columbus, the Avalanche scored twice in the final 11 minutes to send the game to overtime, where they won it on Gabriel Landeskog's goal.
"What I like about it is we're playing with a lot of confidence right now," coach Patrick Roy said. "The most important thing is, no matter what happens to us we believe in ourselves."
The Avalanche maintained a three-point lead on the Chicago Blackhawks for second place in the Central Division. The Blackhawks beat Minnesota in a shootout but still lag behind Colorado with 10 days left in the season.
"That's big for us," said Paul Stasnty, who assisted on Barrie's tying goal. "For us, home ice is pretty important."
Henrik Lundqvist had 35 saves for the Rangers, who gained a point on Philadelphia despite the loss. Derek Stepan and John Moore scored for New York.
The Rangers lead the Flyers by four points for second in the Metropolitan Division. Philadelphia lost to Columbus on Thursday.
"It's a big point but it's still extremely disappointing to lose, especially in this way," Lundqvist said. "We worked really hard to try to get the two points tonight."
New York had won seven of eight. Six of those wins were on the road, where the Rangers are 25-14-1 this season.
Already playing without leading scorer Matt Duchene, the Avalanche lost forward Cody McLeod to a left ankle injury late in the second period. He had to be helped off the ice.
"He's a tough guy and he wants to play in the next game," Roy said of McLeod. "For now he's day to day and we'll see tomorrow."
Duchene is out with a left knee injury that will keep him out through the end of the regular season and possibly the first round of the playoffs.
That hasn't slowed down Colorado's late-season push.
"Our guys have been resilient," Roy said. "They want to have that home-ice advantage against Chicago."
Stepan's goal late in the second period gave New York a 2-1 lead.
It looked as if it would stand up until the final minute of the game. With Varlamov off for an extra attacker, Barrie sent a low shot from the slot past Lundqvist with 51.4 seconds left.
"I was coming in and the puck was kind of shot behind me. I tried to grab it," Barrie said. "I didn't try to shoot it at first, I just tried to corral it and I thought I lost it and it was still right there. I was lucky to shoot it and it went along the ice. I don't think you beat Lundqvist too often like that."
He scored the lone goal in the shootout on the first shot.
"They had a really strong push in the third," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "A couple of our guys logged a little bit of minutes, this was our fourth game on the trip so Give them credit, they had a real strong push in the third."
Moore, who returned to the lineup after missing six games with a concussion, scored his fourth goal of the season at 2:10 of the first period. He beat Varlamov with a snapshot from the point.
In the second period, Andre Benoit scored on a 2-on-1 rush off a pass from John Mitchell, tying it at 1.
NOTES: Varlamov tied Roy for most home wins by an Avalanche goalie with 24. ... Colorado's 49 wins are tied for second most in franchise history. The Avalanche won 52 games in 2000-01. ... Rangers D Ryan McDonagh was scratched with a shoulder injury suffered in Vancouver on Tuesday. It's not expected to be a long-term injury. ... Avalanche F P.A. Parenteau (knee injury) took part in Thursday's morning skate. He has been out since March 10.
