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Byfuglien leads charge as Blackhawks edge Avalanche

Dec 13, 2008 - 6:01 AM By Derek Nagy PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- Joel Quenneville's return to Colorado was a successful one.

Dustin Byfuglien scored two goals, including one that snapped a tie with 6:09 left in the third period, as Quenneville's Chicago Blackhawks skated to a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

Craig Adams and Andrew Ladd also tallied for the Blackhawks, who rallied to get Quenneville the win in his first trip to Colorado since being fired by the Avalanche following the 2007-08 season. Quenneville led Colorado to the Western Conference semifinals before the team was swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

Both teams understood it was an emotional game for Chicago's coach.

"We know how much it means to (Quenneville)," Ladd said. "Anytime you're playing an old team, there's a little extra motivation to get a win, and we knew that."

"Joel really liked it here, he's got friends here," Colorado's Ian Laperriere said. "Joel is a good man, and I'm happy he's doing well in Chicago."

Chicago improved to 4-0-1 in its last five games, recording its first win on the road since posting a 5-4 overtime victory at Toronto on November 22.

Nikolai Khabibulin made 18 saves for the Blackhawks in his first appearance since suffering a lower body injury against San Jose on November 26.

"(Khabibulin) looked big in the net," Quenneville said. "He made a couple quality and key saves. He looked healthy, and it was good to see him."

Laperriere recorded a goal and an assist and rookie Chris Stewart and Wojtek Wolski also scored for Colorado, which fell to 4-2-1 over its last seven contests and had its four-game home winning streak snapped.

"It's frustrating," Laperriere said. "We have to find a way to keep (the lead). They took it to us the second half of the second and in the third, but we had the lead in our own building, and we need to find a way to get points. Tonight, it's painful to let two points go just like that."

Byfuglien scored the go-ahead goal on a great team effort by the Blackhawks. Keeping the puck in the offensive zone for the entirety of Colorado defenseman Jordan Leopold's hooking penalty, Chicago kept peppering goaltender Peter Budaj with shots.

Martin Havlat grabbed his own rebound and, just as the penalty expired, passed the puck to Byfuglien, who tipped it into the net from the doorstep for his fifth goal of the season.

"They weren't pretty goals, they were hard-working goals," Byfuglien said. "Sooner or later, bounces like that go in for people. It's just bad luck for (Budaj). Sometimes he saves those and sometimes he doesn't. I thought it was a good team effort and I thought we battled hard."

"That was a tough one," Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles said. "It was a little bit of a broken play, and he put a good shot on (Budaj)."

The Blackhawks had tied the game at 3-3 at 9:59 of the third, when Dave Bolland got the puck in the right faceoff circle and passed to Ladd, who netted his sixth goal of the season.

Celebrating his 23rd birthday, Ladd received a head laceration in the first period, when his stick got caught in Colorado's net and hit him once he was able to get it released.

"Yeah, 13 stitches and a goal - I'll take it," Ladd said. "Two points is the biggest thing."

Wolski gave Colorado a 3-2 lead just 3:43 into the session. After receiving a pass from David Jones in his own zone, the Pole skated the length of the ice - splitting a pair of defenders in the neutral zone in the process - and wristed a shot that beat Khabibulin.

The Blackhawks opened the scoring on a great individual effort by Adams, who took his own rebound and flipped the puck over Budaj's stick 2 1/2 minutes into the first. Stewart and Laperriere tallied less than four minutes apart midway through the session to put Colorado in front, but Byfuglien converted captain Jonathan Toews' pass 7 1/2 minutes into the second to pull Chicago even.

"They took it to us in the first period," Quenneville said. "We were fortunate we were only down one."

"It was nice to finally get on the sheet like that," Byfuglien said. "It's nice to have the team running and gunning like that. It's fun."

Budaj stopped 26 shots for the Avalanche.