Maybe the most striking thing about the Avalanche's 3-2 win against Chicago on Wednesday before a sellout crowd of 18,007 at the Pepsi Center: how reserved coach Patrick Roy and the players were after the game.
Happy to have beaten the defending Stanley Cup champions four out of five games this season? Sure. Pleased to have moved into second place in the rugged Central Division? Of course.
But the words "not satisfied" were uttered by virtually every player. There are still 16 regular-season games remaining, so second place in the Central Division and home ice in the first round of the playoffs is hardly guaranteed.
The Avalanche (43-18-5) has a one-point lead (91-90) on the Blackhawks (38-14-14) and trails first-place St. Louis (44-14-7) by four points (95-91). The Blues have played one fewer game and have taken over top spot in the Western Conference from the suddenly struggling Anaheim Ducks (43-16-7, 93 points), who will take a four-game losing streak into Friday's game at the Pepsi Center.
"Yeah, we're happy right now, but we're not satisfied," said center Matt Duchene, who had a goal and an assist to stretch his scoring streak to nine games. He has five goals and nine assists in the streak. "We're going to keep pushing. We want to try and climb as high as we possibly can. This is a nice accolade to have right now and we just have to keep it going."
Left wing Ryan O'Reilly scored what proved to be the winning goal on a 5-on-3 power play at 10:53 of the third period and he had an assist on Duchene's second-period goal that gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead.
"Definitely looking at the standings it's nice to be ahead of those guys," O'Reilly said of the Blackhawks. "But we're going to keep looking up and trying to catch the teams that are ahead of us. It's back to work again. We'll definitely enjoy this. If you look at all the games we played against these guys, we found different ways to win. Knowing that, if we do have a playoff series against these guys, it definitely gives us confidence going in."
The Avalanche also got a goal from Brad Malone, who was recalled from Lake Erie in the AHL along with rookie Paul Carey on Wednesday because the team was down to 10 forwards after Paul Stastny (back) and PA Parenteau (knee) were injured in back-to-back games. Alex Tanguay had season-ending hip surgery shortly after the Olympics break.
"It certainly means a lot to us," Roy said of the win. "I'm so proud of this group. Losing Tanguay, Stastny and Parenteau, I think our guys showed a lot of character. It's amazing, the depth that we have, but at the same time how resilient our players have been. They play with pride, they play with heart. They gave everything they had to compete with these guys.
"Malone and Carey played a real good game. They didn't play big minutes, but the minutes they played, they did a real good job. I am real proud of the leadership we have on our team. We're not looking for excuses. Our top guys have been our best players."
Malone, who centered the fourth line with Carey and Patrick Bordeleau, skated down left wing and beat goalie Antti Raanta from a bad angle to open the scoring with 1:36 to play in the first period.
“It was just kind of a controlled breakout and I didn’t really know what was going on," Malone said of his first goal in 16 NHL games this season. " I kind of just turned and read Tyson (Barrie) for a little bit and I had a pass and tried to get some speed down the wall and made a chip and then I saw I had some room. So I just tried to put the puck on the net and shoot for a rebound and luckily it found a hole.
"It’s unbelievable. When you think about playing in the NHL, these are the kinds of games you think of. It’s intense and every play is magnified. Points are so important. It’s a dream, obviously, to come play here. Playing in a game like that makes it extra special.…
The Avalanche needed another big game from goalie Semyon Varlamov, who made 37 saves to pick up his 100th NHL win. He joined Evgeni Nabokov (347), Nikolai Khabibulin (333) and Ilya Bryzgalov (213) as the only Russian-born goalies to reach the century mark. He also went 4-0 against Chicago with a 1.59 goals-against average and .960 save percentage.
"Varly has been playing outstanding for us," Roy said. "He gives us a chance to win every night. He was sharp, he was focused. Every game we've played with Chicago, he's been our best player. He gave us a chance to stay in the game. Even when it was a 2-1 game, and the game was on the line, he gave us some big saves."
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville put together a powerhouse line of Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in the second period, and it paid off. Kane skated down right wing, put a move on defenseman Jan Hejda before moving to the net and beat Varlamov with a perfect shot at 8:23.
"They're great players," Roy said. "It's amazing to see how hungry they remain. It's good for our players to see that. I think we're learning a lot from players like this."
Duchene, who ripped a shot from the right circle over Raanta 19 seconds into the period for a 2-0 lead, set up O'Reilly's goal for a 3-1 advantage with 9:07 left in the third period with Blackhawks Andrew Shaw (interference) and Marcus Kruger (delay of game) in the penalty box.
Duchene was in the lower portion of the right circle when he took a shot that Raanta stopped. O'Reilly, who was all alone right in front, handled the rebound and moved to his left for a tap-in. Five seconds were left on the two-man advantage when he scored. The Avalanche had gone 0-for-13 on power plays covering parts of four games.
"I had a lot of room and it was a great play by Dutchie," said O'Reilly, who has a team-leading and career-high 25 goals. "He has poise with the puck and it was a quick shot. If it didn't go in, it was going to drop right on my stick and that's exactly what it did. I had tons of time in front and I just kind of moved over and put it in."
The Blackhawks applied plenty of pressure after O'Reilly scored and pulled within 3-2 after Raanta went to the bench for an extra skater with 2:32 left in regulation. Fifteen seconds into the 6-on-5 advantage, Brandon Saad knocked in the rebound of Shaw's shot during a goalmouth scramble.
Raanta went to the bench again with 1:34 remaining, but the Avalanche held on. Varlamov made a stop against Saad, who had seven shots on goal, with 4.9 seconds to play.
"They threw the kitchen sink at us in the third and we withstood it," Duchene said. "Even the goal we gave up with the goalie pulled, we didn't give them much there. It was kind of a hack and whack at it and it went in. It was unfortunate, but give them credit. They came hard. We did a good job only giving up one goal 5-on-5."
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Some Blackhawks reaction:
Quenneville: "Over the course of the regular season against certain teams you’re record isn’t as good as you’d like. It looks like a landslide against you, but every game’s been different, every game has been close. I didn’t mind our game tonight. Very even, very competitive. We gave up an early goal, the first goal of the game, it’s kind of what’s gone on against them all year. We’re playing from behind, we chipped away, chipped away to get ourselves back in the game with a chance in the end to tie it. When they scored on a 5-on-3, it was a big one."
Toews: "Give them credit, they’re a good team, they played well. But I guess we need to find that urgency and determination we had later in the game and bring that right from the start, especially with their speed and energy. Getting behind against that team, it’s not an easy thing to come back, especially with the way their goaltender is playing. We need to find a way to be better early in games.
"Maybe we can learn our lesson now that games aren’t going to get easier this time of the year. It’s time to play hard, it’s time to play playoff style hockey if we want to win games. That’s another two points we let slip, six in a row against this team."
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The Avalanche has a 17-6-2 record against Central Division teams ... Colorado is 33-1-3 when scoring first and 31-0-2 when leading after two periods ... O'Reilly's game-winning goal was his sixth of the season, tying him with Duchene. He and Nathan MacKinnon have eight power-play goals ... Malone played 7:09, had three hits and won four of six faceoffs aside from scoring his goal ... Carey, in his NHL debut, had one shot in 5:59 of ice time ... The Blackhawks outshot the Avalanche 39-29.