DENVER – Jacob Markstrom had 32 saves and made three consecutive stops in a shootout, helping the Vancouver Canucks beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Saturday night.
Markstrom denied Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Matt Duchene in the tiebreaker, and Markus Granlund converted his shootout opportunity for the Canucks.
Loui Eriksson and Alexandre Burrows scored for Vancouver, which went 2-1-0 on a three-game trip. The Canucks also improved to 4-1-1 in their last six games against the Avalanche.
Calvin Pickard, starting in place of injured goalie Semyon Varlamov, stopped 29 shots for Colorado. He is 4-1-1 in six starts this season.
Mikhail Grigorenko and Jarome Iginla scored for the Avs, who have lost the first two games of their five-game homestand.
Burrows put the Canucks ahead 2-1 just 1:26 into the third, but 39-year-old Iginla responded with his third of the season at 3:56.
Colorado then came out aggressive in overtime and just missed on several opportunities. Vancouver had a power play in the final 20 seconds but also came up short.
Early on, the Canucks looked like the more energized team despite playing the second of a back-to-back. They made the most of an early power play, jumping in front when Eriksson took a pass from Granlund and beat Pickard on the short side.
The Vancouver winger went scoreless in the first 13 games of the year but now has five goals in his last nine appearances.
Pickard kept the Avalanche in the game with a handful of dazzling saves, including one where he was forced to stretch his leg out to rob Bo Horvat late in the first.
Grigorenko tied it midway through the second period. After chances by Carl Soderberg and Duchene in front of the net, Grigorenko flicked a shot off Markstrom's back and then poked in the rebound for his second goal of the season.
NOTES: Vancouver D Alexander Edler left after he blocked a shot by Soderberg in the first period. ... The Avalanche got a scare of their own when MacKinnon lost an edge and slammed into the boards early in the second. He winced in pain for a few minutes but quickly returned to the ice. ... Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he hoped Varlamov (upper-body injury) would be able to return to practice Sunday. ... The Avalanche recalled G Spencer Martin from the San Antonio Rampage to serve as Pickard's backup. Martin was Colorado's third-round draft choice in 2013. ... The Canucks assigned Alex Biega to the Utica Comets for a conditioning stint. ... Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog missed his fifth straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Vancouver winger Sven Baertschi missed his second straight game with a foot injury and is considered day to day.
UP NEXT
Canucks: Return home to face the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
Avalanche: Continue a five-game homestand on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators.
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