DENVER The Colorado Avalanche haven’t had many opportunities to celebrate on home ice this season, so they savored Tuesday’s rare chance.Tyson Barrie had a goal and two assists, Gabriel Landeskog also scored and the Avalanche rallied for two quick goals in the second period to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Tuesday night.Nathan MacKinnon had an empty-net goal and Calvin Pickard stopped 25 shots for Colorado, which ended a four-game losing streak. The Avalanche (18-44-3) had lost 12 of their previous 14 contests (2-11-1).”It was definitely nice to get back on the winning note,” Pickard said after bouncing back from Saturday’s tough outing at Winnipeg. “It’s been tough sledding for a while, so it’s nice to have a 60-minute effort. Everybody played their game tonight and when we do that we can compete with anybody.”Pickard allowed five goals on 20 shots against his hometown Jets before being pulled midway through the second period. He came up big in the second period Tuesday to stop 11 shots and help the Avalanche grab the lead and hold on.”That period was probably our most dangerous,” Carolina coach Bill Peters said. “We had some good looks in the third, too, but I don’t think we generated a whole bunch from start to finish.”Justin Faulk scored and Eddie Lack had 22 saves for the Hurricanes (26-27-10). Lack was pulled for an extra skater with 2:02 left and MacKinnon scored into the empty net to end a 15-game scoreless streak.Carolina split its two-game swing through Arizona and Colorado but gained no ground in its faint playoff hopes. The Hurricanes are tied for last in the Metropolitan Division with 19 games left.”We’ve struggled to score in this five-game segment,” Peters said. “I think we’ve only scored 10 times in this five-game segment. No different than Arizona we got two and tonight we were stuck on one. If you get two you’re still playing some bonus hockey, some overtime or into a shootout.”The Avalanche grabbed momentum with two goals in a span of 46 seconds. Trailing 1-0, Landeskog tied the score when he tipped in a shot by Barrie past Lack at 18:18 of the second period.Landeskog’s 15th goal of the season ended a scoring drought that nearly reached 100 minutes for Colorado.Barrie gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead with his sixth goal of the year at 19:04. It was the first time Colorado scored more than one goal in five games.”That was nice,” said Barrie, who had a season high in points. “Obviously we were having some difficulties, two goals in four games and we were getting frustrated. It didn’t seem like we were ever going to score, so it was nice to get one and then get one right after.”The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead when Faulk scored 6:08 into the game. His shot from the top of the right circle beat Pickard to the short side for his 12th goal of the season. Hurricanes defenseman and Colorado native Jaccob Slavin earned an assist for the fifth-straight game on the goal.Carolina thought it took a 2-0 lead at 11:56 of the second period, but Teuvo Teravainen’s goal was waved off for goaltender interference, a call that was upheld after a Hurricanes challenge.”Obviously it would have been nice to have that goal, but we knew it wouldn’t count,” Victor Rask said. “I thought we did a good job after that. But we have to play better than that.”The Hurricanes were scrambling for the tying goal when MacKinnon sealed it.”He was good tonight, he was really good,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of MacKinnon. “Our core guys tonight, they were driving the bus, and that’s what we need from them.”NOTES: Hurricanes LW Phillip Di Giuseppe was scratched with an upper-body injury suffered during the second period of the 2-1 win over Arizona on Sunday. Di Giuseppe’s absence forced Carolina to play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. … Hurricanes LW Brock McGinn missed his fourth game with an upper-body injury. … The Avalanche signed F JC Beaudin and D Nicolas Meloche to three-year, entry-level deals Monday. Meloche was Colorado’s second-round pick in 2015 and Beaudin was taken in the third round the same year. … Carolina D Justin Faulk’s goal was his first in 10 games.
