to knock the net off the moorings without some responsibil

DENVER -- Moments after deflecting in the winning goal, Colorados Tyson Barrie did a little dance. Not bad for a defenceman. The goal, that is. Although the shuffling dance steps werent bad, either. Barrie scored 55 seconds into overtime, Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots, and the Avalanche moved a step closer to their first playoff berth in four years with a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. "That was a heck of a goal," Avalanche forward Matt Duchene said. The pass was pretty good, too. Duchene dribbled the puck into the corner and sent a sharp pass at Barrie, who was standing in front of the net and tipped it past goalie Eddie Lack. "I was fortunate," Barrie said. With that, the Avs are on the verge of sewing up their first post-season appearance since the 2009-10 season. There was a scenario in which Colorado could have wrapped up a spot on Thursday, but Phoenix prevented that by beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in a road shootout. Colorado also remains on the heels of the Chicago Blackhawks for second in the Central Division. The Avs trail the Blackhawks by one point. "We want to finish as high as possible," said Duchene, who also scored a goal. "We arent giving anybody a break coming in." The game had a playoff feel with all the fights, thrown shoulders and scuffles in the corner. With good reason: The Canucks are trying to scratch and claw to remain in the post-season picture. Struggling just a few weeks ago, the Canucks earned a valuable point and are now five points behind Phoenix, which holds the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. But time is quickly running out for the Canucks, who have seven games remaining. "Were right there. Were still in it," said Canucks coach John Tortorella, whose team had its three-game winning streak snapped. "Were fine. Were fine in our room. Were going to keep on playing. "No bad news from me here." Daniel Sedin recorded his 800th NHL point with an assist in the first period. His twin brother, Henrik, reached that milestone on Oct. 15 at Philadelphia. Henrik didnt make the trip because of a leg injury. The Canucks showed no signs of fatigue despite playing on back-to-back nights. Vancouver kept up with the high-flying Avalanche most of the game, especially in the third period. "We were in their end zone quite a bit," Tortorella said. "We grinded. Thats a skilled team. Its a very quick team. I thought we did a really good job through the neutral zone to slow them down." Gabriel Landeskog missed a wide open net early in the second period, only to atone minutes later when he lifted a shot over the shoulder of Lack to give Colorado a 2-1 lead. The Avalanche captain has scored three times in two games. The Canucks tied it at 18:38 when Zack Kassian stopped a puck headed for the corner with his right skate, quickly corralled it and poked the puck past a sprawled-out Varlamov. Things got a little testy in the second period. It started early when Patrick Bordeleau and Tom Sestito fought. Duchene and Ryan Kesler later began shoving each other behind the Vancouver net. On the next shift, Jamie McGinn got into it with Kesler, as well. When the giant video board showed Kesler sitting on the bench, the Canucks centre made a kissing motion at the screen, drawing loud boos from the crowd. "They were playing hard," Duchene said. "They played a great game, and Varly played outstanding as usual." Yannick Weber staked Vancouver to a 1-0 lead in the first when he lined a shot past Varlamov for a power-play goal. It was his fifth goal of the season. Late in the opening period, Duchene tied it by knocking a rebound past Lack, who played for a second straight night. NOTES: Canucks F David Booth had an assist on Kassians goal, giving him four points in three games. ... Avs D Erik Johnson played in his 400th NHL game despite having the flu. ... It was Barries third OT goal of the season, tying the franchise record set by David Jones in 2010-11. ... Varlamov earned his 36th win of the season, the fourth most in franchise history. Hall of Famer turned Avs coach Patrick Roy has the record, winning 40 in the 2000-01 season. Adidas Nmd R1 Primeknit . - PGA Tour rookie Tony Finau shot a 9-under 63 at Del Monte and had a two-stroke lead over Billy Andrade and Lee Janzen of the Champions Tour after Thursdays opening round of the Callaway Pebble Beach Invitational. Adidas Nmd r1 Australia . The White Sox said Wednesday they acquired left-handed pitching prospect Sean Bierman and infielder Ben Kline, who both played at Class A this season. The White Sox dealt Crain to Tampa Bay on July 29. http://www.nmdadidasshoesaustralia.com/ . Erik Logan, president of the network, said Friday that the postponement was made after meetings with the St. Louis Rams. Adidas Nmd r1 Primeknit Shoes . Auld made 37 saves in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. It was Ottawas first game without starter Anderson, who is out indefinitely after cutting his hand Wednesday night, and it was evident the team wasnt sure how to deal with the change in goal. Buy Adidas Nmd r1 Online . - PGA Tour rookie Tony Finau shot a 9-under 63 at Del Monte and had a two-stroke lead over Billy Andrade and Lee Janzen of the Champions Tour after Thursdays opening round of the Callaway Pebble Beach Invitational.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry,Absolutely love your column and love your answers. My question is in the Tuesday night game of Red Wings v. Blue Jackets, Cam Atkinson clearly scored Columbus third goal after the net was dislodged. Im confused how the referees were able to decide that the goal was scored before the net came off when it seemed to clearly come off before the goal crossed the line. Im just wondering how the refs came to their conclusion and if it was correct.Thanks Kerry,Jacob Messing Hi Ref,How can a player score when the net is clearly off the mooring> When the net is off the moorings you cant allow a goal. Maybe get a penalty for moving the net, but no goal. Obviously that was the wrong call, and could mean a missed playoff. Are Referees demoted from the playoffs for these terrible calls? Thanks for your answer.Jim Carmody Jacob and Jim:Thank you for your questions on this unique situation that caused many fans to scratch their heads in amazement as to how a goal can be scored with the net clearly off the moorings. I have two personal experiences to share with you that resulted in the formulation and eventual amendment of rule 63.6 which I hope will clear up any confusion. It was under this specific rule that Referee Chris Rooney correctly awarded a goal to Cam Atkinson of the Columbus Blue Jackets after Atkinsons body contacted the post and knocked off its moorings. I provide you with the history of the rule and the correct application. Rule 63.6—In the event that the goal post is displaced, either deliberately or accidentally, by a defending player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goalposts, the Referee may award a goal. In order to award a goal in this situation, the goal post must have been displaced by the actions of a defending player, the puck must have been shot (or the player must be in the act of shooting) at the goal prior to the goal post being displaced, and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts. Now for your first history lesson as to how this rule came about. In the mid 1980s I was assigned to work a game in the St. Louis Arena between the Blues and the Edmonton Oilers. On a particular shift the Oiler stars were sustaining incredible pressure in the Blues end zone. It looked like a shooting gallery against Blues goalkeeper Mike Liut as he slid from side to side making one incredible save after another. That is until one stacked-pad-slide by Liut took the tender well outside of his goal crease. The rebound came right onto the stick of Glenn Anderson standing all alone in the middle slot. As Anderson was about to trigger a shot into the unguarded cage for a sure goal, Blues defenceman Tim Bothwell lifted the net completely off its moorings and began to skate it toward the corner of the rink! Anderson looked puzzled and continued to reposition his feet toward the moving target.ddddddddddddI blew the whistle and assessed a delay of game penalty to Bothwell. The Blues killed the penalty and a "sure goal" by Anderson had been averted. I made a rule proposal that was adopted to allow the ref to award a goal if the net was deliberately displaced by a defending player and the attacker shot the puck (or in the act of shooting) and the puck passed through the normal position of the net. The initial rule only applied when the net was "deliberately" displaced. Fast-forward to the modern day NHL and a game I worked in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Sabres. Buffalo created a two-on-one attack with the second Canuck defenceman giving chase. As the attackers approached the net the trailing D made a desperation diving poke-check attempt. The defending players out of control slide knocked the net off its moorings just prior to the shot entering the net. The sure goal had to be disallowed and no penalty could be assessed since the action of the defending player that knocked the net off the mooring was accidental. Due to the fact that a sure goal had been denied through the "actions" of a defending player in both situations (deliberate in St. Louis (80s) and accidental in Vancouver (2000s) the language of the rule was amended to include "accidentally" whenever the specific criteria of rule 63.6 was satisfied. In Tuesdays game Matt Calvert and Cam Atkinson took flight on a two-on-one break with Niklas Kronwall defending and his defence partner, Brendan Smith giving chase from behind. Jimmy Howard made a left pad save on Calverts shot but could not control or freeze the rebound. Atkinson attacked the net from the opposite side and initiated a hard stop at the top-inside of the crease with an opportunity to put the loose puck into the net for a sure goal. As Atkinson was positioning his stick to play the puck (act of shooting) Smith made physical contact with his stick and hip on Atkinson that moved the Blue Jackets player into the goal post and knocked the net off of the moorings. Some will say that the contact exerted by Smith was minimal and insufficient to knock the net off the moorings without some responsibility placed on Atkinson. The replay shows that Atkinsons momentum and forward progress was altered significantly and he accelerated from his initial stop inside the top of the crease after the contact by Smith was initiated and completed. It is also evident that Atkinson attempted to push back and stop following the contact by Smith with a second, separate spray of snow from his skate blade. Referee Chris Rooney made an excellent, quick decision when he correctly applied rule 63.6 to award the goal to Atkinson following the actions of Smith that "accidentally" caused the goal post to be displaced prior to the puck crossing the goal line. Watching this play I saw history repeated. ' ' '