• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Stastny extends points streak, scores game-winner for Avalanche

Mar 15, 2007 - 5:52 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Paul Stastny kept his rookie points streak going and did it with a paramount goal.

Stastny extended his streak to 19 games and scored the game-winning goal early in the third period as the Colorado Avalanche posted an important 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk also scored and goaltender Peter Budaj made 17 saves for the Avalanche (35-29-6), who have 76 points and climbed within eight of the Flames for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Sakic scored his 602nd career goal 1:15 into the first period to move past Jari Kurri into 16th place on the all-time goal-scoring list when he banged a rebound from the doorstep past goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.

Despite the crucial victory, Stastny kept things in perspective.

"Well, it's just one game," he said. "I think we'll enjoy this one tonight and get back to work tomorrow, because you never know what will happen."

Colorado had a huge edge in play territorially throughout the evening, outshooting Calgary, 42-19.

"I think the truth of the matter is that our top players are not competing hard enough on a consistent basis in the hard areas to give us a chance to win," Calgary coach Jim Playfair said. "You can think what you want about the number of shots but the truth of the matter is, the wall battles, the turnovers and being first in the hard areas is an issue with our team right now."

"Right now, I think we're playing really well," Budaj said. "The team is playing very good defensively. We outshot them two-to-one or more than that. It's nice to see the team playing as well as they are."

Stastny scored the winner 50 seconds into the third period when he banked a shot from a sharp angle off Kiprusoff for a 3-2 Colorado lead.

"It was a weird shot," Stastny said. "It (the puck) was rolling a little bit and I think it kind of handcuffed Kiprusoff a little bit. He thought it was going to go higher than it did. It squeaked in, and we'll take that goal."

"I thought I had it covered, he beat me with a quick shot," Kiprusoff said. "I think I should stop those, but you know that's what they like to do, they like to get those passes behind the net and the quick shots. It was a tough play, but I'd like to have that one back for sure."

At the other end of the ice, Budaj was not tested much but was sharp when he had to be. His is 6-0-1 in his last seven starts while allowing just 13 goals and is one reason the Avalanche are still alive.

"Peter has been tremendous, giving us a chance to win," Sakic said. "It was a good effort right from the start to finish tonight.

Jarome Iginla and former Av Stephane Yelle scored while Kiprusoff made 39 saves for Calgary (37-23-10), which remained eighth in the West.

The Flames still trail the Minnesota Wild by three points for seventh in the West and in the tight Northwest Division. They trail the first-place Vancouver Canucks by four points in the division race.

"I don't think can we worry too much about what everyone else is doing, we have to win the games and try to be better and better," Kiprusoff said. "The playoffs are not far away and you want to be playing your best when they start. We have to go one game at a time and worry about ourselves."