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. Custom Nike Chicago Cubs Jerseys . Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane wanted to stay in Chicago and the Blackhawks wanted to keep the high-scoring forwards in the only NHL uniform they have ever known. Custom Nike Tampa Bay Rays Jerseys . The 42-ranked Czech saved seven break points while converting his one chance, and defeated the No. 3 seed in 1 hour 46 minutes. Rosol, who lost in the final in Stuttgart against Roberto Bautista Agut on Sunday, awaits the winner between Philipp Kohlschreiber or 2011 champion Gilles Simon. https://www.customnikebaseballjerseys.co...s-baseball.html. Dane Dobbie and Shawn Evans each had two goals and two assists for the Roughnecks (8-5), who outscored Minnesota 6-2 in the fourth quarter after being tied through 45 minutes. Curtis Dickson scored once and set up three more for Calgary and Dan MacRae, Geoff Snider, Tor Reinholdt, Karsen Leung and Matthew Dinsdale. Cheap Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping . NORRIS COLE (Heat): Its funny, you watch a guy play and now really produce and it just jumps off the page at you - why? You put a young player with potential in a winning environment where there is veteran leadership, outstanding coaching and management and a way that things are done and its a wonderful environment for growth, improvement in a climate of constant accountability and expectation of achievement/production. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Online . The Detroit Tigers star had microfracture surgery Friday to repair the medial and lateral meniscus in his left knee. "I dont want to say it was a surprise," team president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said.LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Most impressive about Julius Randles latest double-double was that the Kentucky freshman forward achieved it by halftime. Yes, the top-ranked Wildcats had it that easy on Sunday against Northern Kentucky. Randle had 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead a 93-63 blowout of the Norse. Two days after the 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward debuted with 23 points and was credited on Sunday with 16 rebounds upon review, he had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the first half for the Wildcats (2-0). Randle added 11 points and four rebounds before heading to the bench after playing 29 productive minutes against the overmatched Norse (0-2) -- with room for improvement in his mind. "Im still missing some opportunities," said Randle, who made 10 of 14 free throws. "(There were) a lot of balls I didnt come up with. I just have to learn from it and improve." Guard Aaron Harrison added 16 points for Kentucky while twin brother Andrew had 13. Alex Poythress contributed nine points while 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein added seven points and 11 rebounds. Needing a good tuneup with Tuesdays showdown looming against No. 2 Michigan State in Chicago, the Wildcats much-heralded freshmen responded by dominating every area. Kentucky shot 30 of 55 from the field (54.5 per cent), outrebounded NKU 51-23 and scored 36 points in the paint. "I thought we played through possessions better," coach John Calipari said. "I thought we got to the second and third drive for the first time. Again, its not their fault because its something that we really zeroed in on yesterday... "Today, we rebounded much better." Daniel Camps 13 points led Northern Kentucky in the first meeting between the schools located 83 miles apart. Tyler White added 12 points and Todd Johnson had 10 for the Norse. The Wildcats were seeking a better start than in Friday nights 89-57, season-opening rout of UNC-Asheville, the first of three games in five days. Kentuckys freshmen had a rough first half in that game and led by just 10 points at halftime before taking control offensively with their athleticism that left UNC-Asheville no choice but to foul; Randle had no problem with that, making 11 of 13 from thhe line en route to 23 points and a double-double.dddddddddddd Calipari took a mostly positive approach considering it was the first game together for his lauded group of rookies, but he noted a lot of blemishes. For example, his teams lack of defensive effort was something he stressed needed improvement -- more against Northern Kentucky before looking ahead to Michigan State. Calipari couldnt complain after Kentucky held NKU to 9-of-31 shooting in the first half on Sunday, though much of that had more to do with the Norses understandable reluctance to try and drive inside against the bigger Wildcats. That left NKU to try and make things up from beyond the arc, a strategy that yielded just 3-of-18 shooting (16.7 per cent) and played right into Kentuckys hands in numerous ways. The Wildcats tallied just four fast-break points in the first half but had 16 second-chance points thanks to 12 offensive rebounds. They dominated the boards 29-12 through 20 minutes. "We pushed the ball hard and Aaron was attacking very well," Andrew Harrison said. "He got to the line and made some shots. I made some shots. Everybody played good. We were playing together." Figure in 5-of-13 shooting from long range (38 per cent) and it quickly added to the expected lopsided outcome. Leading 16-10 after Poythress 3-pointer, the Wildcats closed the half with a 32-12 run for a 48-22 lead. Just two nights after losing its opener 77-76 at Purdue in the final seconds, the Norse endured a rude chapter in their second season playing Division I basketball. And that was just the first half. They finished 21 of 64 from the field (32.8 per cent) including 9 of 35 from beyond the arc. "I may be crazy to say this, but when we had two or three wide-open layups in the first couple of minutes and didnt make them, I thought that relaxed Kentucky a little bit," NKU coach Dave Bezold said of his teams shooting. "When you dont make those shots against tremendous teams when you are outsized and really out-talented, its really difficult to control tempo and it really allows those guys to be relaxed when they shoot the basketball. ... I thought that was the difference in the game." ' ' '