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Avs roll past Ducks in Roy's debut

Oct 3, 2013 - 4:54 AM Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Jamie McGinn tallied a pair of goals and Semyon Verlamov stopped 35 shots as the Colorado Avalanche downed the Anaheim Ducks, 6-1, in Patrick Roy's coaching debut.

Steve Downie and Ryan O'Reilly both had one goal and one assist and Matt Duchene scored one for the Avalanche, who were a dismal 16-25-7 last season.

Nathan MacKinnon, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, finished with a pair of assists in his NHL debut.

"We're very dangerous offensively. We all support each other, and tonight we attacked with speed. At the end, we had a little lapse. We have to work on that. None of us wanted to give up that goal," said O'Reilly.

Following its third straight season missing the playoffs, Colorado hired the Hall of Fame goaltender Roy as its head coach. Roy is reunited with former teammate and current Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic. The duo won a pair of Stanley Cups with the Avs.

"It is only one game, we're off to a good start, but we have to remain humble. Tomorrow morning is the test," said Roy. "If we come in to practice all glad and happy we have a problem. If we come in and work hard we know we will play well."

Viktor Fasth made 23 saves, but allowed all six goals in the setback.

"The tone tonight was set in the second. We had our few chances on the power play and we were pressing hard in the first. Now we have to get up tomorrow and get a good practice in. We had a lot breakdowns in the defensive zone. Things happened tonight that should not happen," said Fasth.

O'Reilly tallied the game's first goal 15:39 into the opening period. O'Reilly beat Fasth just over his right leg.

The Avs scored three goals in the second frame to take a 4-0 lead.

Downie's wrister on a power play just over 8 1/2 minutes into the period got the scoring started. O'Reilly fed a pass in front of the net and Downie pounded it in.

John Mitchell added a goal two minutes later on a wrister on a 2-on-1. Verlamov stopped Cam Fowler's shot, and the puck trickled away and was quickly flipped up ice to set up the rush.

McGinn's first goal came with just 2:40 left in the middle session to put the game out of reach.

McGinn and Duchene added goal 2 1/2 minutes apart near the midway part of the third and Jakob Silfverberg scored with seven seconds left to account for the final difference.

Game Notes

MacKinnon is the youngest player in Avalanche history ... Each offensive line had at least two points for Colorado ... Anaheim forward Dustin Penner was a healthy scratch due to a "mediocre" training camp. Penner came back to Ducks on a one-year deal in offseason ... Prior to the game, Anaheim assigned forward Devante Smith-Pelly to Norfolk (AHL) and activated Silfverberg from injured reserve.