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Budaj, Hejduk lead Avalanche to shutout win vs. Ducks

Feb 14, 2007 - 6:23 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- After allowing 13 goals in their previous two games, the Colorado Avalanche turned to Peter Budaj to slam the door.

Milan Hejduk scored late in the first period and Budaj stonewalled 39 shots as the Avalanche posted a 2-0 victory against the Anaheim Ducks.

Rookie Paul Stastny tallied near the end of the second period and Joe Sakic and Andrew Brunette added assists for Colorado, which has won three straight and six of seven vs. Anaheim.

Budaj stopped 10 shots in the first session, 15 in the second and 14 in the third to record his second shutout of the season and fourth career.

"The shots I faced, I was able to see them and could clear rebounds," Budaj said. "Guys were doing a great job blocking shots and clearing out the rebounds in front of me. It's a credit to them that I was able to get a shutout."

"Peter has played extremely well several times this year," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think our overall team game complemented Peter tonight. I think everybody contributed to a real solid win and a much-needed win by us."

It came at a good time for Colorado, which had lost two straight, including a 7-5 loss to Dallas on Sunday.

The second-year netminder received all the support he needed when Hejduk scored on the power play, ripping a shot between the pads of goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere with 2:18 remaining in the first period.

"It would be nice if I could get on a roll," Hejduk said. "Most games, I've had some chances. It would be nice if more pucks could go in."

Stastny tallied in his fourth straight game when he rifled home a rebound off a shot by Hejduk.

"I got the puck in the slot, and Hejduk's more of a danger than I am. I might as well just drop it to one of the guys and then go to the net. That's what I did, and (Hejduk) made a great play and it was an easy goal."

Giguere made 27 saves for Anaheim, which went 0-for-5 on the power play and has now gone 0-for-21 with a man advantage in its last five games.

"For good parts of this game we were doing a lot of good things, getting chances," Ducks center Rob Niedermayer said. "Obviously their goalie played extremely well, made some big saves."

"Their team game was more structured than ours, that's why they won the hockey game," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.