• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Brunette, Sakic lift Avalanche over Hurricanes

Dec 12, 2006 - 5:16 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Andrew Brunette and Joe Sakic did their part to send the Carolina Hurricanes home on a sour note.

Brunette and Sakic each had a goal and and two assists to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-2 victory over the Hurricanes.

Colorado scored four third-period goals to improve to 11-0-3 in its last 14 games against Carolina.

"It was nice to get the win," Sakic said. "It was something we needed tonight. We need to get on a roll, we have a lot of games at home and we need to take advantage of that before the New Year."

The loss concluded a disappointing 0-4-0 West Coast swing for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who were outscored, 15-6, on the trip.

"We as a team, nothing's come easy so far, and it seems like sometimes that's the way we want it to be," Carolina right wing Justin Williams said. "Instead of going for the throat and getting that killer instinct and getting that next goal and keep pressing, we sit back and take penalties.

"We gave up odd-man rushes and they capitalized and scored on the power play and put the game away. It's very frustrating right now."

The Avalanche tied the game, 2-2, at 8:46 of the third period when Brunette jammed his own rebound past Carolina goaltender John Grahame.

"Obviously the second goal was big," Sakic said. "I don't think it was too far after that we got the power-play goal, which definitely gave us some momentum. It was nice to have a little bit of a comeback."

Brunette then assisted on the game-winner when he hooked up on a give-and-go with defenseman John-Michael Liles. Liles passed the puck to Brunette and cut to the net, took the return feed and fired the puck between Grahame's legs for a 3-2 lead at 10:33.

"We got rewarded for our effort in the third period," Brunette said. "We had some opportunities to score and it was just nice to get a few and win the hockey game. Falling behind, we haven't had much success at home. It was important for us to win this hockey game and gain some confidence, and we were fortunate to do that."

"It was a play where it was a nice pass that went through some traffic and I didn't see the pass till it was on his stick, and he (Liles) made a pretty good shot," Grahame said. "I need to come up with that save and keep the game close."

Sakic gave Colorado some insurance with 7:16 to go when he took Brunette's pass from behind the net and fired the puck over Grahame's glove for a 4-2 lead.

"Once we made it 4-2 and got the breathing room it was nice, but the first two periods were pretty tight," Sakic said.

Tyler Arnason and Pierre Turgeon scored the other goals for Colorado, while Williams netted both tallies for Carolina.

The victory was a nice rebound for the Avalanche, who blew three leads in a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

"It was a big bounce-back for us, especially after the LA game, after we gave up the lead in the third period," said Colorado netminder Peter Budaj, who finished with 26 saves. "It was kind of our fault, and we knew that and we did what we had to do tonight."

Colorado captain Rod Brind'Amour missed his second straight game with a groin injury suffered in the 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.