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Brunette's tally helps Avalanche end skid vs. Red Wings

Jan 21, 2007 - 6:40 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Courtesy of Andrew Brunette, the Colorado Avalanche's 500th capacity crowd went home happy.

Brunette snapped a tie midway throught the third period and captain Joe Sakic added his 20th goal of the season as the Avalanche celebrated their 500th sellout with a 3-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.

Since moving to the Mile High State from Quebec in 1995, the Avalanche have played in front of a full house in all but 15 of their home games. Their milestone sellout was a joyous one as Brunette scored his fourth goal in five contests and Sakic sealed the win with an empty-netter.

The final tally made Sakic just the 10th player in NHL history to reach the 20-goal plateau 17 times. The only season in which the All-Star did not hit the mark was the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign, when he scored 19 goals in 47 games.

Ian Laperriere also scored and Peter Budaj made 27 saves for Colorado, which halted a seven-game slide against Detroit.

"It was a big win, especially against a team like Detroit," Budaj said. "We haven't beaten them this year and it's much sweeter because it's a rival. ... We outshot them and I think we played one of our better games. I'm very proud of my team."

Rookie Valtteri Filppula tallied and Joey MacDonald stopped 28 shots for the Red Wings, who have lost two in a row following a five-game winning streak.

"We've been through a real tough stretch in our schedule, 14 games in 25 days," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We've actually held up pretty good. ... I thought Joey MacDonald gave us an opportunity. You've got to give him a lot of credit."

Entering with just one goal on the season, Laperriere doubled the total midway through the first period, backhanding a second-chance shot past MacDonald from in front at 9:45 for a 1-0 lead.

"With my luck this year, I thought it was going to go wide," Laperriere said. "I want to score goals, but I've been thinking way too much about it. Hopefully, I'm just going to simplify my game and chances are going to come."

The advantage lasted less than six minutes as Filppula buried a rebound from below the left faceoff circle with 4:35 remaining in the period for his fifth tally.

After a scoreless second session, defenseman Brett Clark unleashed a shot that wound up in the crease. Brunette pounced on it, shoving it into the net at 9:52 of the third for a 2-1 edge.

"We were just working," Brunette said. "We didn't establish a point shot, but we got one through some traffic in front of the net and it just bounced my way."

"I ended up getting my pad on the first (shot) and my stick on the second one," MacDonald said. "He kind of tapped it in. They do a real good job in front of the net making the goalie fight through traffic."

Making his 11th consecutive start, Budaj stopped the final 17 shots he faced to secure the victory.

"You can't get too high," Budaj said. "I'm very happy and very thankful. You can't think that this is it and that I'm a big star now. I want to keep my focus to come back and work hard. One time you're up, another time you can be down. People have a tendency to forget how things were when it was not going well."

"We've all had confidence in what he can do," Brunette said. "For him, you can see the confidence building in every game he plays. He's playing real good right now. He's giving us good goaltending every night."