Avs Earn Some Revenge — A Sweep
(from the Colorado Springs Gazette)
By Doug Gould
The Gazette
October 30, 2005 - Had Colorado hockey fans been offered the choice of seeing the Avalanche batter Todd Bertuzzi, or vanquish Vancouver twice in three nights, it's questionable which they would have preferred.
It was apparent, though, from the explosion of joy from 18,007 spectators at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night that Ian Laperriere's breakaway goal 1:55 into overtime, giving the Avs a 4- 3 victory and a sweep of their back-to-back set with the Canucks, will do for now.
Laperriere took a pass from Patrice Brisebois at his blue line, skated well ahead of the field, and wristed the puck through Vancouver goaltender Alexander Auld's legs for two points in the standings and a more civilized manner of avenging Bertuzzi's attack on Steve Moore in March 2004.
"I had three zones to skate in and I wasn't sure I was going to make it," joked an elated Laperriere after the first overtime goal of his career. "Nobody was with me, and that's really a great feeling. Sometimes, you have too much time, but then I saw the five hole."
Coach Joel Quenneville doesn't usually employ Laperriere in OTs, instead relying on his first two lines in the four-on-four session. Laperriere said he was surprised, but grateful, to find himself on the ice.
"The way he's skating, he's going to get a lot more chances," Quenneville said of his left wing, who has two goals and four points in his last three games.
But Laperriere's heroics wouldn't have occurred had Alex Tanguay not scored with 4:35 remaining in regulation to force the overtime. Trailing 3-2, the Avs' Andrew Brunette (who scored Colorado's first goal) came out of the penalty box, picked up the puck just outside the Canucks' blue line and fed Tanguay, who slipped in his third goal of the season.
The teams were fairly well behaved, as they were in their two previous meetings in the past week. With the exception of a fight in the first two minutes between Vancouver right wing Lee Goren and Colorado's Brad May, trying to finally get Avalanche fans on his side, the clubs tended to business.
The Avalanche took the lead at 10:42 of the first period. Pierre Turgeon stole the puck from defenseman Nolan Baumgartner in center ice and keyed a two-on-one break with Brunette carrying inside the right circle and slipping the puck into the net as he crossed in front.
But a collision with Baumgartner sent Brunette into the left goal post and Baumgartner into goaltender Dan Cloutier. The goaltender had to be helped off the ice with Auld taking over.