Inching Ahead
Win lifts Avs into 6th place in West
(from the Daily Times-Call, Longmont, CO)
By Michael Kelly
The Daily Times-Call
April 9, 2006 - Ian Laperriere dropped to his knees as the Pepsi Center crowd erupted in joy.
The Colorado forward had a lot to celebrate after hitting the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career, atoning for a mistake on St. Louis' first-period goal, and getting rewarded for a hard-working shift.
Most of all, he was celebrating the Avs' 2-1 lead.
"Twenty goals, I never scored even close to that before. More important, it was a big goal for our team," he said. "It's better than scoring one goal in a 6-1 win."
Laperriere's milestone goal was big, and it helped the Avs beat the Blues, 4-2, Saturday afternoon.
The win vaulted the Avs over Edmonton for the sixth spot in the Western Conference, and moved them closer to clinching a playoff spot with five games to go.
"It's going to be tense every game with this race going on," said the Avs' Joe Sakic, whose goal in the second period was his 573rd and tied him with Mike Bossy for 17th place on the all-time NHL list. "It was a big two points. Now we've got another huge one against Minny. If we get another two points, there's a little bit of a gap there."
Because the bottom half of the West is bunched up, the Avs can't afford to enjoy this win. Tonight, they play Minnesota, which is out of the playoff race. St. Louis is also playing out the string, but the Blues proved to be a tough challenge.
St. Louis took a 1-0 lead late in the first period, a lead that held up until Sakic blasted a puck through traffic to tie it up with 3 minutes, 30 seconds left in the second period.
"We were desperate all game," the Avs' Dan Hinote said. "We didn't come out as well as we would have liked to. We had some chances in the first that we didn't bury. Joe, doing what he always does, putting us on his back and carrying us. After that, we just worked hard and tried to play a consistent game."
When Laperriere scored, it seemed to relax everyone but St. Louis.
"I felt relaxed," he said. "The first goal was my fault, and I wanted to redeem myself. When I got the goal it was 2-1. I felt good personally, but I knew it was a big goal for the team."
Four minutes after Laperriere scored, Hinote redirected Cody McCormick's pass to give the Avs a two-goal cushion.
The Blues made it interesting, scoring on the power play with 1:07 left, but Milan Hejduk scored an empty-netter 39 seconds later to seal the win.
The Avs now have 92 points, and have a game in hand on Edmonton, which has 91. A few more points would guarantee them a playoff spot and get rid of that worry before the last game of the season.
"The priority is to get in, and the next objective is to finish as high as we can," Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. "We want to push forward. We don't want to have Game 82 be one where you have to make the playoffs. I don't foresee this slowing down until Game 82."
Things won't be figured out until then, and in the meantime the players will watch the scoreboard and do the math to see how close they are to making or missing the playoffs.
"If somebody like L.A., Vancouver, all those teams, if they say they're not looking at the standings they're lying," Laperriere said. "Everybody is."
Even though the Avs most likely won't win the Northwest Division like they did for nine straight years, they're a better team than some of the previous Colorado teams. The Avs are on a pace for 45 wins and 98 points, and the 45 wins would be as many or more than five of their previous division-winning clubs.
"We've had a pretty good year, and we've got a lot wins," Sakic said. "The way the game's played now, with the shootouts, there's a lot of good teams in the West."
A few more points and they can prove they're one of those teams.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
#1 COL 14 I. Laperriere
#2 COL 19 J. Sakic
#3 COL 31 P. Budaj