Avs edge Thrashers in OT, move into 1st

Kyle Cumiskey capped an improbable comeback when he scored a goal nine seconds into overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center. The win moves the Avalanche into sole possession of first place in the NHL’s Northwest Division.

Colorado has won three straight games and four of it’s last five.

The Avs came out flat Wednesday night and played that way through most of the first 2 1/2 periods,

Atlanta got on the board at 8:54 of the first period. Niclas Bergfors, acquired last week from New Jersey in the Ilya Kovalchuk trade, picked up a loose puck in the Atlanta zone and raced down the left side. He broke in on Avs goalie Craig Anderson and using two players as a screen, beat him with a wrist shot to give the Thrashers the lead.
Atlanta kept the advantage for 46 seconds. Paul Stastny sent a cross-ice pass to Brett Clark, who was pinching in toward the Thrasher goal. Clark slid the puck past Atlanta goalie Johan Hedberg to tie the game 1-1.

Atlanta’s Bryan Little had the only goal of the second period, scoring on a shot from the left wing face off circle at 5:32.
The Avalanche caught a break when Atlanta had an apparent goal waved off at 17:52 of the second. The puck slid along the goal line and the goal judge signaled score but replay showed that the puck never crossed the line and the period ended 2-1 Atlanta.

Nik Antropov gave the Thrashers a 3-1 lead at 4:19 of the third period when he took a pass from Little and fired a wrist shot that beat Anderson high.

Chris Stewart began the Avalanche comeback at 8:34. Grabbing the puck in the corner below the Atlanta goal line, he drove to the net and jammed the puck past Hedberg to pull the Avs within one.
Chris Durno tied the game with an incredible play at 14:31. Durno went after a loose puck in front of the Thrashers net, dove at it and while horizontal, flipped it past Hedberg to tie the score.

Kyle Cumiskey ended the overtime period quickly. He gathered the puck from the opening face off, skated through the Atlanta defenders, faked out Hedberg and lifted the puck into the Thrasher net for the winning score. His goal 9 seconds into overtime is a new Avalanche record. The previous record was 19 seconds.

Craig Anderson played in his 13th consecutive game and stopped 33 of 36 shots. Johan Hedberg stopped 31 of 35 shots for Atlanta.

With division rivals Vancouver and Calgary idle, the win moves the Avs two points ahead of the Canucks and 7 points ahead of the third place Flames.

NOTES
-Ryan O’Reilly returned to action for the Avs after missing one game with a foot injury.
-John-Michael Liles was a healthy scratch.
-Darren Haydar, leading score for Colorado’s minor league affiliate Lake Erie, was called up by the Avalanche Tuesday and saw action against Atlanta, his former team.
-Adam Foote played in his 900th game for the Quebec/Colorado franchise Wednesday.
-Colorado’s record against the Eastern Conference this season is 11-5-1 with one game remaining. The Avs will host Florida on March 11th.

NEXT
Colorado ends the home stand Friday against Phoenix.

Bruce Wilkie is a Colorado semi-native, having moved to Denver in 1971. He has worked with pro and college hockey teams since 1975 and now covers the Avs for thehockeywriters.com.