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Theodore sharp as Avalanche win fifth straight

Mar 7, 2008 - 6:29 AM By Dave Reed PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- Colorado fans still are waiting for Peter Forsberg to score, but they had plenty to cheer about Thursday as the Avalanche extended their winning streak to five games with a 1-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Wojtek Wolski snapped a 15-game goalless drought and Jose Theodore made 27 saves en route to his second shutout of the season and fifth consecutive win. The former Hart and Vezina Trophy winner had not won five straight since March 5-20, 2004 while with the Montreal Canadiens.

The victory pulled Colorado (36-26-6) within one point of both Minnesota (37-26-5) and idle Calgary (35-23-9) for first place in the Northwest Division. The Wild dropped a 3-2 decision at Carolina on Thursday.

Forsberg logged 21 minutes, 35 seconds of ice time in his second game since signing with Colorado on February 25 and managed one shot on goal.

"Four games in six nights, it's going to be a little hard," Forsberg said. "But it's definitely great to be back playing again. Today, I got a couple of chances. Hopefully, I'll get the goals when we need them."

Anaheim (38-25-7), which was shut out for the second straight game, missed out on a chance to move past idle San Jose (38-21-8) for second place in the Pacific Division. The Ducks also were blanked, 3-0, at Chicago on Wednesday.

"It was one of those nights," Anaheim right wing Teemu Selanne said. "We just can't find a way to score goals."

The Avalanche got on the board midway through the second period.

All-Star Paul Stastny carried the puck into the offensive zone and dished to Andrew Brunette, who was along the right wing boards. Brunette immediately passed the puck to Wolski, who - while driving toward the net - tipped it between goaltender Jonas Hiller's pads at 11:59 for his 15th goal of the season.

"(Brunette) kind of slid it over and I just tried to put it on net as quickly as possible, hoping the goalie wouldn't have enough time to get over," Wolski said. "I was happy to get the goal."

Hiller got a piece of shot, but not enough to keep it out of the net.

"I touched it, so it hurts even more," the Swiss goaltender said. "You know you're there and it still goes through. Right now, I'm a little angry about that."

It proved to be all the offensive support needed by Theodore, who turned aside six shots in the first period, nine in the second and 12 in the third for his 25th career shutout.

Hiller nearly matched Theodore in a game with playoff-like intensity, as both made several big saves in the opening period.

Theodore stopped All-Star Corey Perry's backhander on a breakaway with 15:45 remaining, putting his right pad against the goalpost to make the save.

"Every time you make a save on a breakaway, especially early on like that, you show everybody you're ready to play," Theodore said. "They responded so well by playing a hard game."

Hiller denied Stastny from the bottom of the left faceoff circle and also turned aside captain Joe Sakic's wrist shot from inside the right circle midway through the period.

Theodore came up big against Chris Kunitz and Selanne in a span of less than a minute midway through the second period, then stopped All-Star Ryan Getzlaf from the low slot on the power play early in the third.

Hiller, who finished with 29 saves, kept Anaheim within a goal when he got his stick on Sakic's wrister from the slot with 12:55 left in the third.

"He gave us a chance," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "No complaints about the level of goaltending we got tonight."