DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche are back in the post-season.
[b]Nat Moore Dolphins Jersey[/b] . But they may have to move on without Matt Duchene. If Semyon Varlamov continues his breakout season, the Avalanche might not miss their leading scorer. Varlamov had a season-high 47 saves and Colorado clinched its first playoff berth in four years with a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. Center John Mitchell had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who moved past Chicago into second place in the Central Division with 100 points in what might have been a costly victory. Duchene suffered a left knee injury on the opening shift Saturday when he collided with teammate Jamie McGinn near the Sharks blue line. He fell to the ice and then gingerly skated to the bench. He is scheduled to have an MRI on Sunday. "Well know more after that," coach Patrick Roy said. "Its not good news for him and its not good news for us. Its the way its been all year." Despite the injuries -- Colorado has lost top-six forwards Alex Tanguay and P.A. Parenteau -- the constant has been Varlamov. He came through again against the relentless Sharks, who threw 74 shots at him. Colorado blocked 25. "Im guessing he was the first star," San Jose coach Todd McLellan said of Varlamov. "He should be." Down a player, Varlamov made up for it with an outstanding performance. He stopped 20 shots in the third period, many during the final minutes when the Sharks were trying to get the equalizer. His 37 wins are the most in the NHL and a big reason the Avalanche reached 100 points for the first time in 10 years. "Hes been tremendous," captain Gabe Landeskog said. "I think its safe to say we wouldnt be here without him." Colorado was a mainstay in the playoffs when the franchise moved to Denver in 1995. After winning the Stanley Cup for a second time in 2001, the Avalanche reached the Western Conference finals the following season before heading into lean times. Now they have a chance to return to the glory years with a young, eager group. "Were certainly not satisfied with just squeaking into the playoffs, we want to do damage," Landeskog said. Mitchell moved up to centre Colorados top line, and came through with a big power-play goal to give Colorado a 3-1 lead at 6:32 of the second period. "It came right to me slow enough so I could get a forehand shot and I just one-timed it into the back of the net," Mitchell said. "I was just at the right place at the right time." Paul Stastny and Cody McLeod also scored for Colorado. Varlamovs strong play beforehand helped Colorado maintain a 2-1 lead. The Sharks outshot the Avalanche 11-3 in the second, many of those coming early when they were trying to tie it. Joe Pavelski and Dan Boyle scored for the Sharks, who are 1-2-2 in their past five games but still hold a slim lead for first place in the Pacific over Anaheim. Goalie Alex Stalock had 19 saves for San Jose before being pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute. "I thought we played extremely well, thought we generated a lot of chances," Joe Thornton said. "Its just sometimes you dont win those types of games." Boyle cut the lead to 3-2 when he took a pass from James Sheppard and scored off Varlamovs left shoulder 2:03 after Mitchell. It was his 10th goal of the season. The Sharks got a chance to tie on a 4-on-3 power play after Ryan OReilly took his first penalty of the season, a minor for playing with a broken stick. Stastnys 26th goal 1:33 into the game gave Colorado a 1-0 lead. Pavelski tied it on the power play less than two minutes later with his 38th. The Sharks had another power-play chance midway through the first, but McLeod sneaked behind the defence, took a long pass from Nick Holden off Boyles glove and beat Stalock to give Colorado a 2-1 lead. "I took my eye off the puck for a fraction of a second to make sure I wasnt going to get drilled," Boyle said. "I just caught a piece of it and missed it. Thats an unfortunate bounce." NOTES: Mitchell returned to the lineup after missing four games with a back injury. ... The Sharks reassigned F Freddie Hamilton to Worcester of the AHL on Friday. ... McGinn played after skipping practice Friday. He took a shot off his foot in Thursdays win over Vancouver.
[b]Christian Wilkins Jersey[/b] .C. -- Lucy Li made two double bogeys, a triple bogey and finished her historic round at the U.
[b]Michael Deiter Jersey[/b] . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive.Sri Lankas final match before the first Test against England on Thursday ended in a draw at Leicestershire. With a draw always the most likely result, the tourists used the third day to try and play their batsmen into form and it worked to a certain extent with Dimuth Karunaratne retiring having made a century.Leicestershire resumed on 304-5 in the morning session and did not lose another wicket before declaring having moved eight runs ahead of Sri Lankas first innings total.Tom Wells ended unbeaten on 87 and Rob Taylor was 37 not out when they were waved in, with the score at 375-5 after 100 overs.After a duckk in the first innings, Karunaratne had a point to prove and put on 100 for the first wicket with Kaushal Silva, who was eventually bowled by Taylor for 43.
[b]Jerome Baker Womens Jersey[/b]. Karunaratne continued and hit 16 boundaries as he reached his ton off 134 balls before retiring to allow others a chance to play themselves into nick.However, while Lahiru Thirimanne made 40 not out, both Niroshan Dickwella and Milinda Siriwardana were both dismissed for ducks as the game came to a close with Sri Lanka 200-4.Watch Sri Lanka take on England in the first Test at Headingley from 10am on Thursday, live on Sky Sports 2 HD. ' ' '
Find in Directory
Find in Events
Find in Marketplace