All season long, the Colorado Avalanche have struggled to put together a complete performance, but thanks to a stellar game from defenseman Tyson Barrie, the Avalanche were able to get the job done against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, 3-1.
Barrie, who not only helped a tight Avalanche defense, played a hand in each Avalanche tally, as he finished with one goal and two assists; sparking an offense that has been quite stagnant as of late.
“Obviously we’re having trouble scoring, and I think anytime we had two goals in four games, it’s abysmal, so you got to rely on your tough guys to get you out of it,” Barrie said. “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves and the coaches put a lot of pressure on us. I think it was good the guys responded.”
After going down 1-0 at the start of the first period, the Avs defense regrouped throughout the rest of the contest. Barrie switched into his offensive gear, aiding Gabriel Landeskog for the team’s first goal less near the end of the second. Less than 50 seconds later, he netted one of his own.
“I think up until that point, we were playing pretty good, and obviously it was nice to get that powerplay goal there,” Barrie said of his quick turnaround effort. “I thought we were working it around good, and we did a great job in front and to get a stick on it and get another one after that was a big confidence boost going into the third.”
In goal, Calvin Pickard weathered 25 shots, but despite a great performance on his end, he attributed the team’s success to his defensive line.
“We were fantastic,” Pickard said. “There wasn’t a lot of scoring chances for them and it was nice to have a game like that. Our D played great, breaking the puck out of our zone, and we had the puck a lot tonight.”
With the win, the Avs improved to 18-44-3 and the Hurricanes fell to 26-27-10. The Avalanche returns home on Thursday, March 9 as they host New Jersey Devils at 7 p.m.
