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Friday, Dec. 10 10:30pm ET
Roy beats Ducks, ties Tony O | |||||
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ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Patrick Roy was in his early years of grade school when Tony Esposito was backstopping the Chicago Blackhawks to two Stanley Cup finals in a three-year span during the early 1970s. "I was not very old, that's for sure, but I saw a bit of the end of his career," Roy said Friday night after tying the Hall of Famer for third place on the NHL career victory list with his 423rd in Colorado's 2-1 decision over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
A three-time Vezina Trophy winner and two-time playoff MVP, Roy needs only 12 more victories to pass Jacques Plante and 25 more to eclipse Terry Sawchuk's all-time record. "The Hall of Fame is not something that I look at, to be honest," said Roy, who made 24 saves against Anaheim. "I mean I'm sure it will come, but I'm not focusing on that. If I give my team a chance to win every night, good things will happen for me at the same time." Jeff Odgers ended a 77-game goal-scoring drought and Chris Drury connected on a power play, leading Colorado to its fifth victory in seven games and helping give the Avalanche a two-point lead over Vancouver in the Northwest Division. Colorado is trying to join Montreal (1975-82) and Edmonton (1982-87) as the only franchises to win at least six consecutive division titles. "It's a long season and our division is the closest race around the league right now," defenseman Stephane Yelle said. "So we have to keep winning games and hopefully stay ahead of the pack. The guys are working hard right now and we're playing well as a team defensively." Roy lost his shutout bid on Ruslan Salei's one-timer from the left point. It was the defenseman's first goal in 65 games dating back to last New Year's Day, but Roy got a break less than 11 minutes earlier when Jeff Nielsen hit the crossbar. "Roy played well. He always plays well," Paul Kariya said. "Very rarely are you going to get him on the first shot. If he sees it, 99 percent of the time he's going to stop it. "Against the goaltenders in this league now, you have to get some traffic in front of the net. And we're not doing that," Kariya added. "We're getting the scoring opportunities, but we get one shot and they clear it out." Jason Marshall drew the Ducks' first penalty of the game, a tripping infraction, and the NHL's top power play unit capitalized with their eighth goal in a span of 21 opportunities. Drury opened the scoring with 1:54 left in the opening period against a penalty-killing unit that had held opponents scoreless in its previous 19 shorthanded situations. Drury backhanded a rebound past Guy Hebert's stick from 15 feet in the slot for eighth goal of the season and 21st point in 21 games. Odgers, who scored only twice in 75 games last season, gave Colorado a two-goal lead at 5:44 of the second period with a short backhander through Hebert's pads. It was his first goal since Dec. 12, 1998, at New Jersey. Anaheim went 0-for-4 on the power play and is 2-for-32 in its last nine games. Teemu Selanne, who had five shots on net, failed to score a goal for the 11th time in 12 games. "Peter Forsberg's line did a great job on Kariya and Selanne," Avalanche coach Bob Hartley said. "We wanted to keep them on the outside and limit their chances, and they accomplished that."
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Colorado 2
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