Denver, CO (Sports Network) – Matt Duchene bounced back from an undetected cross-check to the mouth to register a goal and two assists, lifting the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers in Craig Anderson’s return to the crease.
Anderson missed more than three weeks with a right knee injury suffered during warmups on October 26 at Vancouver. He made 25 saves after missing Colorado’s last 10 games.
Backup goaltender Peter Budaj performed admirably in the interim, posting a 6-3-1 record with a 2.62 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.
David Jones, Kevin Porter, Daniel Winnik and Kevin Shattenkirk also found the back of the net for the Avalanche, who swept their three-game homestand.
Derek Stepan scored the lone goal for New York, which fell to 6-3-0 on the road this season.
Henrik Lundqvist was lifted in the second period after yielding three goals on 16 shots. Martin Biron made eight saves the rest of the way.