Ducks 2 - 3 Avalanche
Final - OT
  for this game

Avs survive Ducks on Landeskog's OT tally

Mar 13, 2012 - 5:23 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Colorado wouldn't be battling for a playoff spot if it wasn't for the play of standout rookie Gabriel Landeskog.

On Monday night, the Calder Trophy candidate ripped home the biggest goal of his career 1:52 into overtime, as the Avalanche picked up some much-needed points with a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

In the extra session, Colorado defenseman Matt Hunwick kept the puck in the Anaheim zone and Landeskog, the second overall pick last year, fired a slap shot past Jonas Hiller's glove for his team-best 19th goal of the season.

Landeskog also tied Philadelphia's Matt Read for the rookie goal-scoring lead.

Jamie McGinn and birthday boy Kevin Porter also scored for Colorado, which has won four of five and improved to 8-3-0 in its last 11 games overall.

Semyon Varlamov earned the win with a 38-save performance.

The Avalanche moved into eighth place in the Western Conference standings with 78 points, one more than ninth-place San Jose. The Sharks have three games in hand over Colorado.

Landeskog was asked about what was said on the bench before overtime.

"There wasn't much said," he admitted. "We just knew that we had to go out and get that extra point. Every point is important for us right now and it felt good to get that win."

Teemu Selanne and Francois Beauchemin lit the lamp for Anaheim, which suffered its third consecutive loss. The Ducks are 12th in the West with 69 points.

"It looked like everybody was trying to go on offense [in overtime]. Sure, you want to score, but you kind of have to think defense first," said Hiller, who stopped 30 shots, including a glove save to deny Ryan O'Reilly on a breakaway moments after Selanne tied the game in the third period with a historic power- play goal.

With the marker -- which came at the 16:08 mark, 2:55 after Porter had given Colorado the lead -- Selanne passed Hall of Famer Jari Kurri for most career NHL points by a Finnish-born player with 1,399. He also moved into sole possession of 19th place on the all-time list in points and tied Luc Robitaille for fourth all-time in power-play goals with 247.

Porter, who turned 26 on Monday, got his stick on Jan Hejda's point shot to put Colorado ahead.

McGinn put the Avalanche on the board with his fifth goal in as many games. After Ryan O'Byrne pinched down from his point position to keep the puck in the Anaheim end, McGinn, acquired from San Jose at last month's trade deadline, sent a wrister from the right circle past Hiller at the 10:48 mark of the first period.

The Ducks netted the equalizer in the waning moments of the middle stanza, as Beauchemin scored from in tight with 1.4 seconds on the clock.

Game Notes

Ducks forward Saku Koivu played in his 1,000th NHL game. He became just the fifth Finnish-born player to reach the milestone, joining Teppo Numminen, Selanne, Kurri and Olli Jokinen...Landeskog broke the franchise record for shots by a rookie in a single season. He entered the game tied with Peter Stastny (232 in 1980-81) and his third shot won the game...Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf competed in his 500th career game...Ducks leading goal-scorer Corey Perry sat out with a shoulder injury...The Avalanche finished 3-1-0 against the Ducks this year, winning the season series for the first time since 2006-07.






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