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Stastny, Sakic lead Avalanche in comeback over Panthers

Feb 7, 2007 - 6:38 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Paul Stastny and Joe Sakic turned another certain home loss into a mile-high celebration.

Stastny scored with 37 seconds left in regulation and Sakic tallied the game-winner just seconds into overtime as the Colorado Avalanche scored three unanswered goals for a 5-4 victory over the hapless Florida Panthers.

Tyler Arnason was all over the ice, adding a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who seemed destined to lose their third straight on this four-game homestand.

"We really didn't come out good tonight and the first couple of periods we were lucky," Sakic said. "Jose (Theodore) was great, along with Tyler Arnason, and those two really carried us and gave us a chance. The credit really has to go to Jose, because after the first period, it should have been 5-1 for them.

"It was a great win for us, a great comeback. It kind of makes up for the last couple of games, so this was huge."

Colorado, looking to avoid its second three-game home losing streak of the season, took advantage of a 5-on-3 situation in the game's final minute.

Arnason took a faceoff in the Florida end, broke through the defense and fired a backhander at goaltender Ed Belfour, who blocked the shot. But the rebound squirted out to Stastny, who beat the netminder stick-side for the equalizer.

With a one-man advantage carrying over into the extra session, Stastny and Sakic executed a perfect give-and-go 25 seconds in as the Avalanche recorded their first overtime win of the season.

Sakic had the puck at the left point and fed Stastny right of the net. He charged the net, got a return pass and beat Belfour stick-side to cap the first game between the teams in over three years.

"Joe is Joe. You can't say enough," Theodore said. "When he has that time in the slot, the game is already over, because that's his bread and butter. He's a great leader."

Chris Gratton had a goal and two assists for Panthers, who suffered a 7-0 loss against Los Angeles on Saturday, their worst home loss in club history.

"When you're on the power play that many times, they're going to outshoot you," said Florida coach Jacques Martin, whose club stopped just five of seven power plays. "We lost some people, no calls. We have one day to regroup, I can't criticize the effort. We lost three forwards in the game, ran a little short and the penalties were the difference."

Colorado defenseman Karlis Skrastins played in his 486th consecutive game, tying Tim Horton of Toronto for the all-time NHL record.

"It means a lot to me. It's one of those things that I can be proud of about myself," Skrastins said. "I'm not a big goal scorer or I'm not getting a lot of points. It's one of those things that will stay in your memory for all of your life. Right now, I need to keep focusing on the game and keep my motivation on the game. When I'm done with hockey, these are going to be good memories for sure."

The Panthers took command with three consecutive goals bridging the first two periods. Olli Jokinen followed his own shot off the post to tie the contest at 1-1 seven minutes into the contest. Nathan Horton rifled a slap shot past goaltender Theodore 5:42 later before Gratton tipped in a beautiful cross-ice feed from Jokinen 4:43 into the second stanza for a 3-1 lead.

"We played our game plan to a tee the first two periods and then they came out hard in the third," Gratton said. "They were playing physical, had a little extra jump in their step and we kind of sat back a bit. It seems like when we get a lead, we're a fragile team and instead of playing the way we were the first two periods, we sat back."

Arnason and Brett Clark tallied for Colorado around a score by Florida's Jozef Stumpel to move within 4-3 just 2:06 into the final stanza.

Theodore made 32 saves, while Belfour stopped 36 shots.