Avalanche 4 - 2 Ducks
Final
  for this game

Duchene, Avs stay alive with win over Ducks

Apr 4, 2015 - 5:41 AM Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Duchene scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

Dennis Everberg and Duchene each tallied a goal and an assist, while Gabriel Landeskog and John Mitchell also scored for the Avalanche, who staved off elimination and trail Los Angeles by six points for the wild card spot in the Western Conference with four games remaining.

"If we win out you never know what could happen," said Duchene. "We're going to give ourselves the best opportunity possible. Even if we don't make it, we have a lot of pride and a lot of character."

Reto Berra made 35 saves in a solid performance in between the pipes.

Jiri Sekac supplied a goal and an assist, Rickard Rakell also lit the lamp and John Gibson allowed three goals on 22 shots as Anaheim's four-game winning streak came to an end.

"I thought we had chances but we didn't battle hard enough," Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau said. "When you don't battle, you don't win games."

Duchene finished off a breakaway by slipping a shot past Gibson's blocker for a 3-2 lead at 9:08 of the final stanza and Everberg shot into an empty net to seal the win with 1:24 to play.

Freddie Hamilton appeared to put the Avalanche on the board five minutes into the game, but it was waved off due to Jordan Caron's presence in the crease preventing Gibson to stop the shot.

Mitchell's goal counted as he finished off a 2-on-1 with Jarome Iginla by ripping a shot into the net at 6:33 of the first period.

Sekac, however tied the game just 58 seconds later as he raced into the offensive zone and slid a backhander past Berra.

The Ducks took a 2-1 lead after Corey Perry skated behind the net and lost control of the puck, but Rakell corralled it and fired it over Berra with 2:02 left in the opening stanza.

Landeskog pulled the Avalanche even with a power-play goal with 3:08 to play in the second as he took Alex Tanguay's pass from behind the net and sent the puck into the top of the net.

Game Notes

Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie supplied two assists ... Ducks forward Stefan Noesen made his NHL debut, while forwards Patrick Maroon (illness), Matt Beleskey (lower body) and Tim Jackman (lower body) were out of the lineup with injuries ... Colorado ended a four-game losing streak to Anaheim.






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