Friday, Feb. 9 9:00pm ET
Flames send Avs to third straight defeat
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DENVER (AP) -- Jeff Cowan's game-winning goal will go down in the books as unassisted. He couldn't have done it without some inadvertent help from Colorado rookie Ville Nieminen.
|  | | Valeri Bure's first-period goal pulled the Flames into a 1-1 tie. |
Cowan scored his first goal in 16 games, beating David Aebischer
on a breakaway after Nieminen's inexplicable turnover, as the
Calgary Flames beat the Avalanche 5-3 on Friday night.
"It was a lucky play and unfortunate for him. He put the puck right to me," said Cowan, who was held out of Calgary's game Tuesday. "This is a big load off my shoulders. I have struggled."
The Avalanche have lost a season-high three straight games, and
things don't get any easier for the NHL's top team Saturday as they
face the St. Louis Blues. Colorado's 79 points are one more than St. Louis.
"Maybe it's positive in one way," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "It's going to bring some guys back on two feet, and they are going to realize that without working, we can be a very average hockey club."
Mike Vernon, who shut out Colorado in December, stopped a flurry
of shots in the final two minutes and finished with 34 saves for
Calgary. Dave Lowry iced it with an empty-net goal with eight
seconds left.
"We scratched and clawed and managed to hold our ground,"
Vernon said. "That is a tough team to play and if you are not
ready to go, you will get wounded pretty badly."
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Deadmarsh's wife delivers twins
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Avalanche forward Adam Deadmarsh left the game against the Flames after his wife gave birth to twins six weeks premature.
Deadmarsh, who has missed 21 games because of various injuries, scored in the first period but left midway through the second to be with his wife Krista, who was due March 22.
"We got Deadie out after a timeout," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "I guess he got out of here in a world-record time."
Team officials said Krista Deadmarsh and the twins, Madeline and Alexis, were doing well after the delivery.
The twins are the couple's first children. The wives of four
other Avalanche players -- Joe Sakic, Aaron Miller, Greg DeVries and
Adam Foote -- also have had children this season.
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The Avalanche had only themselves to blame for stumbling in
advance of the St. Louis game. They outshot Calgary 37-23 and made
costly turnovers that fanned the Flames.
The biggest mistake came in the final period when Nieminen
passed the puck right to Cowan in the Calgary zone. Cowan, whose
last goal was Dec. 20, took off down the left side, made a move on Greg de Vries and put a backhand shot past Aebischer.
"It was a great individual effort," Calgary coach Don Hay
said. "I think some defensemen might take him for granted a little
bit and think that he might not be able to get around him, but he
made a great play."
While Hartley refused to blame individuals, he indirectly
chastised Nieminen for his ill-advised pass.
"It's a game of mistakes, and whenever you have the puck down low, you can't turn it over," Hartley said. "That's a thing you learn when you're 7 years old."
Trailing 2-1 after one, Colorado tied it on Chris Drury's
one-timer from the slot at 6:11 and took the lead 5:10 later on Joe
Sakic's wrist shot from the slot. Ray Bourque set up both goals on
crisp centering passes.
The lead didn't last long as Denis Gauthier's slap shot from the
left point zipped through a crowd at 13:35.
"I think everybody is ready to play us, that's for sure, but that doesn't matter," Bourque said. "It's what we do that dictates the outcome the game, and right now we're not doing the little things."
Colorado struck first on Adam Deadmarsh's power-play goal at 8:54 of the first, but Calgary countered when Valeri Bure scored on a rebound less than three minutes later.
The Flames took advantage of their only power play of the period
when Marc Savard blasted a slap shot that rattled the water bottles
on top of the goal at 17:44. The score came seconds after
Colorado's Peter Forsberg failed to clear the puck from the
Avalanche zone.
"The last three games, we've been in tight games and suddenly
for no reason I can explain, we open it up and make bonehead
plays," Hartley said. "Giveaways are killing us right now."
Game notes
St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville watched the game in
advance of the Blues' showdown with the Avalanche. Colorado and St.
Louis have the two best records in the NHL. ... Colorado dropped to
22-3-5 when scoring first. ... Calgary C Jerome Iginla has four
goals and two assists in the last four games. ... The Flames had
lost eight of their past to Colorado.
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NHL Scoreboard
Calgary Clubhouse
Colorado Clubhouse
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Atlanta 5
Boston 1
Philadelphia 5
NY Islanders 2
NY Rangers 4
Florida 2
Minnesota 2
Dallas 1
Calgary 5
Colorado 3
Phoenix 2
Edmonton 0
Washington 4
Anaheim 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Adam Deadmarsh takes the puck out of mid-air for the goal.
avi: 420 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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Valeri Bure Official Site
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