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Aucoin, Blackhawks end Avalanche winning streak

Dec 18, 2006 - 4:25 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Defenseman Adrian Aucoin made his presence felt for the surging Chicago Blackhawks.

The team's captain, Aucoin scored the decisive goal in the second period and Nikolai Khabibulin made 27 saves to lead the Blackhawks to a 2-1 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche.

After missing 11 games with a groin injury, Aucoin snapped a 1-1 tie with just his second goal of the season, a power-play tally past Jose Theodore with 7:02 remaining in the middle session. Aucoin fired a slap shot from the top right circle that landed just inside the right post.

"It (scoring) was exciting," Aucoin said. "It's a good feeling to be back and contributing. I got that shot off a few times before I got one to go in."

"Adrian shoots the puck well," Blackhawks coach Denis Savard said. "All the years he has been in the league that is one of his strengths. That was a good goal for him, it was a good comeback game for him too."

Tuomo Ruutu scored his 10th goal with 5:12 left in the first period for Chicago, which won for the third time in four contests.

Making his 20th appearance of the season, Khabibulin stopped 17 shots in the third period to raise his record to 12-5-2.

"They (Avalanche) did come at us at the end," Khabibulin said. "The guys really all night long did a great job of letting me see the puck. They kept the shots outside and to the perimeter."

Brett McLean netted his sixth tally at 6:13 of the middle session and Theodore turned aside 23 shots for the Avalanche, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

"We didn't bear down," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "We had our chances in the third period but we didn't do much in the first two periods. Bottom line is that we weren't good enough."

The Avalanche totaled just 12 shots through the first two sessions.

Martin Havlat made a centering pass to Ruutu, who tallied on a wrist shot for a 1-0 edge.

"Marty just did a great job of finding me with the puck," Ruutu said. "Their defense didn't see me slip in front of the net. I thought my shot hit the post but I was glad it went in."

Located in front of the net, McLean drew Colorado even by deflecting former Blackhawk Tyler Arnason's shot under the crossbar.