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Avalanche use big second period to beat Predators

Jan 2, 2007 - 1:14 AM NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- This time, the Colorado Avalanche had little trouble solving Chris Mason.

Milan Hejduk, Andrew Brunette and Ossi Vaananen scored less than four minutes apart in the second period as the Avalanche ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators.

In a 1-0 loss here on November 11, the Avalanche were unable to beat Mason with any of their 42 shots. On Monday, the Avalanche found plenty of success against Mason, who was making his 19th straight start.

Hejduk scored his 12th goal at 2:58 of the second period, poking a rebound past Mason to snap a 1-1 tie.

A former Predator, Brunette scored his 13th goal at 5:43 to make it 3-1. Just 59 seconds later, Vaananen tallied for the second time this season.

"The only thing I can say we can take out of this is that we have to come ready to play every night," said Mason, who finished with 30 saves. "We let lit slip away in the second period."

Avalanche star Joe Sakic had three assists to move past Paul Coffey into sole possession of 10th place on the all-time points list. Sakic has 44 points this season and 1,533 career.

"It's a special feeling, but the most important thing is winning the game," Sakic said. "At the end of your career, you look at those things, but while you are still playing, you just go out and play."

Wojtek Wolski scored in the first period and added an empty-net tally in the third for the Avalanche, who beat the Predators for just the second time in the last nine meetings.

"We definitely deserved a win," said Wolski, who has half of his 14 goals in the last five games. "This game we were ready and we made all the right decisions."

Jason Arnott tallied twice and J.P. Dumont and Kimmo Timonen had two assists apiece for the Predators, who lost for just the third time in their last 11 games.

"I don't think that we brought it the way we needed to," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "I thought they had more urgency in their game than we did."