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Avalanche continue playoff push against Sharks

Mar 18, 2007 - 2:47 PM San Jose (44-25-3) at Colorado (36-29-6) 8:00 pm EDT

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Colorado Avalanche have decided they are not going to go away.

Colorado continues its push for the playoffs when it hosts the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.

The Avalanche are ninth in the Western Conference, six points behind division-rival Calgary (37-25-10). They continued their furious surge with a 6-3 triumph over Phoenix on Saturday for their seventh win in their last eight contests.

Joe Sakic and rookie Paul Stastny scored twice for the Avalanche, who pulled closer when the Flames lost, 4-2, to Minnesota.

Stastny extended his rookie record points streak to 20 games, in which he has 11 goals and 18 assists. The center still has a ways to go to equal the all-time NHL mark of 30 games by Mats Sundin for the Quebec Nordiques during the 1992-93 season.

The Sharks, who aim for a franchise-record 45th victory, trail first-place Anaheim (43-17-12) by seven points and own a slim two-point lead over Dallas (42-24-5) in the Pacific Division.

San Jose has won four straight and outscored its opponents, 18-2. Vesa Toskala made 35 saves in his first start since February 14 and Joe Thornton scored in a 3-0 triumph over Columbus on Friday.

Thornton has 75 assists, tying him with Pittsburgh phenom Sidney Crosby for the NHL lead.