ANAHEIM, Calif. _ A cracked pane of glass shattered whatever momentum the Anaheim Ducks had built from an overwhelming first period. And then they had trouble cracking Colorado goalie Calvin Pickard or the NHL's worst team.
Nick Ritchie made sure the Pacific Division leaders weren't broken.
Ritchie delivered a tiebreaking score with 2:02 left in regulation to lift the Ducks past the Avalanche, 2-1, in a game that was delayed for 45 minutes midway through the second period at Honda Center.
A turnover by Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov set the winning sequence in motion. Ondrej Kase managed to nudge the puck back to Ritchie, who shot off the pass and beat Pickard as the Ducks (26-13-9) won for the eighth time in 10 games.
John Gibson stopped 21 shots. One of his saves came on a deflected try in front in the final half-minute as Colorado pulled Pickard for an extra attacker. The rebound spat out toward Jarome Iginla and the venerable goal scorer briefly had an open net, only to have Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen defend him well with his stick.
The contest was stopped with 9:48 left in the second after a crack in a pane of glass behind the Ducks' net developed as a result of a shot taken by Colorado defenseman Eric Gelinas. An initial attempt by Honda Center operations staff to put in a replacement pane failed when it did not fit.
As the delay stretched on while the arena personnel cut the pane to accommodate the camera sitting behind the stanchions holding the glass in place, the Ducks and Avalanche waited and waited before returning to their respective dressing rooms for what became their intermission break.
Impatience grew among the announced 15,414 in attendance, but many cheered when the replacement was secured. The teams played out the remaining time in the second and remained on the benches as two Zambonis did a dry scrape of the ice surface before the third period commenced.
And the Avalanche had a 1-0 lead as at the 14:04 mark of the second following the delay, Gabriel Landeskog slammed in a loose puck that popped free on the other side of crease when the Ducks missed an opportunity to clear it away in front of Gibson.
Landeskog cashed in Corey Perry's hooking penalty in the final stages of Colorado's power play but the Avalanche captain, among those mentioned in trade rumors around the last-place team, gave the Ducks an opportunity in the third by taking his own hooking penalty.
Hampus Lindholm made his Swedish countryman pay. His rising slap shot from the point was something Pickard couldn't see while Antoine Vermette and Nick Ritchie put a double screen in front of him. A tie was forged at the 7:17 mark.
Until then, Pickard had been stellar in keeping the Avalanche from being blown out early. The Ducks played nearly all of the game's first 20 minutes in the offensive end, using a persistent and punishing forecheck that continually forced turnovers and kept possession of the puck.
All of it resulted in a 22-3 advantage in shots and a 38-4 disparity in attempts but no goals.
