PHILADELPHIA – Matt Duchene scored twice and Reto Berra made 25 saves to help the Colorado Avalanche start a seven-game road trip with a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.
Jarome Iginla and Cody McLeod also scored for the Avalanche, who won for just the second time in their last six games. Colorado’s road trip is tied for the franchise’s longest since relocating to Denver in 1994-95.
Philadelphia has one victory in its last eight games.
Flyers backup goalie Michal Neuvirth got the start for the fourth consecutive game as head coach Dave Hakstol chose to go with him rather No. 1 goalie Steve Mason. Neuvirth, who finished with 36 saves, entered tied for first in the league with a .945 save percentage to go with three shutouts and a 1.81 goals-against average.
Iginla opened the scoring 57 seconds into the game, beating Neuvirth from a sharp angle to the right of the crease. It was the 596th career tally for the veteran winger, who is four goals away from becoming the 19th player in league history to reach 600 for his career.
This wasn’t Iginla’s prettiest goal, as he partially fanned on the shot only to see the puck trickle between Neuvirth’s left skate and the post for an unlikely score.
Duchene tallied both goals in a dominant second period when Colorado outshot Philadelphia 14-7. He scored on a rebound 25 seconds into the period after Nathan MacKinnon’s wraparound attempt bounced off Neuvirth and right to Duchene in front of the crease.
And the Avalanche went up 3-0 just over three minutes later when Nick Holden’s slap shot from the point bounced off Neuvirth to a waiting Duchene, who wristed it into the vacated short side of the net from the left circle.
Berra, Colorado’s backup goalie, earned his second shutout of the season and third of his career. He got the start after making 31 saves in a 2-1 home loss to the Rangers on Friday and garnered his first victory in his fourth career start against the Flyers.
Jakub Voracek’s offensive struggles continued as the Flyers’ winger made it 15 games without a goal. After tallying a career-high 81 points last season, Voracek has just five points this year.
Philadelphia’s offense has just nine goals, one of which was an empty-netter, in its last seven games.
Avalanche slide
Colorado LW Blake Comeau limped to the locker room five minutes into the second period with an apparent left knee injury after a center-ice hit by Radko Gudas but returned later in the period. ... Colorado also played seven consecutive games away from home from Oct. 8-21 in 2009. ... The Avalanche snapped a four-game losing streak to Philadelphia. ... Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux went to the bench bent over with 8½ minutes left, clutching his left shoulder, after a hard hit by Francois Beauchemin but didn’t miss a shift.
