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Avs sweep home-and-home against Chicago

Dec 16, 2010 - 6:53 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Tomas Fleischmann's first career hat trick helped Colorado down Chicago, 4-3, at United Center.

Greg Mauldin also scored and Matt Duchene added two assists for the Avalanche, who swept the home-and-home set after winning 7-5 in Denver on Monday. Paul Stastny left the contest late in the third period with an upper-body injury.

Craig Anderson won his fourth straight start with 35 saves.

Bryan Bickell, Jonathan Toews and Troy Brouwer tallied for the Blackhawks, who have lost three in a row.

Corey Crawford surrendered four goals on just 23 shots to suffer his third straight loss.

"This one left us frustrated," Crawford said. "We want to win every game that's what we're out there to do. Obviously it's frustrating when you lose."

Colorado took a 3-1 lead thanks to a pair of power-play goals in less than two minutes early in the third period.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Fleischmann said. "The power play was a key point of the game."

The Avs moved ahead by a goal at 4:30, as Fleischmann knocked home a Stastny pass from the left side, then took a two-goal edge at 6:24 when he followed up a smothered Duchene chance and hit the net on the backhand.

Toews pulled Chicago within a goal at 9:37 as he beat a Colorado defender to a puck laying near the goal line, but Fleischmann restored Colorado's two-goal advantage and capped his milestone with 5:18 remaining on a stuffer.

Brouwer's goal with less than two seconds left was too little, too late.

Mauldin gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 13:39 of the first period, when he tracked down a Daniel Winnik feed in the left circle and beat Crawford with a wrister.

Bickell evened the score just 1:14 into the second period on a solo rush, moving past a pair of Colorado defenders before ripping a shot home from the slot.

Game Notes

Fleischmann has notched five goals and five assists in seven games since the Avalanche acquired him from Washington a little more than two weeks ago...The Avs have taken all three meetings from the Blackhawks this season, with one more game, in Chicago, on January 12.