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Second-period burst leads Avalanche past Canucks

Mar 27, 2008 - 5:46 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- For the second consecutive night, the Vancouver Canucks led after one period. Once again, they were unable to finish the game on top.

Linemates Milan Hejduk, Peter Forsberg and Paul Stastny combined for three goals and six assists as the Colorado Avalanche opened the second period with four straight tallies and rolled to a 6-3 triumph over the Canucks on Wednesday.

Defenseman Jordan Leopold, Cody McLeod and Ben Guite also scored for Colorado (41-31-6), which moved ahead of Vancouver (38-29-10) for seventh place in the Western Conference.

"It was just a good team effort," said Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles, who recorded an assist. "We got up early, they came back and got a lead and nobody ever let up. That was a key for us."

"It felt like not just our line, but everyone, skated well," Hejduk said. "We created a lot of scoring chances, especially in the second period. We were all over them. We were creating a lot of quality scoring chances and the pucks were going in."

On Tuesday, the Canucks held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes before allowing three straight goals in a 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. In this one, Daniel Sedin and Taylor Pyatt scored less than 3 1/2 minutes apart to erase a 1-0 deficit in the opening period before the walls caved in in the second.

"After the first five minutes (of the first), I thought we stopped skating," Forsberg said. "But in the second and third, I thought we played great."

"We've had leads the last two games and let them slip away," Canucks captain Markus Naslund said. "We're doing something wrong, there's no doubt about that. We have to fix it, and fix it right away."

Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault also recognized his team's inability to maintain a lead.

"That's two games in a row where we played well in the first period and didn't play well in the second period," he said. "We really put ourselves behind the eight ball in the second period. They really took it to us. Why we haven't been able to put together 60 minutes, I can't tell you."

Stastny began Colorado's onslaught at 4:54, burying a loose puck in the crease for his 23rd goal of the season. Just 73 seconds later, McLeod came in on a partial breakaway and fired the puck between the pads of goaltender Roberto Luongo, giving the Avalanche a 3-2 edge.

"We certainly got excited scoring the second goal," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "Cody McLeod scores a big goal. Guys like that give your team a spark."

Hejduk scored the first of his two goals at 10:29, putting a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle inside the left goalpost during a 2-on-1 rush, and Guite made it 5-2 just 62 seconds later by poking a loose puck past Luongo from the left side of the crease.

"It was like the trickle-down effect - one after another happened," Naslund said. "It's unfortunate. I think Roberto played a strong game again. It's too bad because he's making all the right saves and keeping us in games."

That ended the night for Luongo, who was replaced by Curtis Sanford after allowing five goals on 23 shots.

"They generated a lot of scoring chances, and that's how they got their goals," Luongo said. "They had guys in front of the net, guys crashing the net for rebounds."

Defenseman Sami Salo stopped the bleeding with 10 seconds remaining in the second, but Hejduk completed his sixth multi-goal performance of the season 23 seconds into the third with a wrister from the slot.

"The goal they scored with 9.6 seconds left was not the best thing that could happen," Hejduk said. "We regrouped after the second period and won the hockey game."

"We had a big second period, and them scoring a goal late in the period gave us something to think about going into the third," Quenneville said.

Hejduk gave most of the credit for his performance to Forsberg and Stastny.

"I'm playing with two great players, and they're a lot of fun to play with," he said. "They make great passes."

Entering with three assists in five games, Forsberg doubled his total by setting up a trio of goals.

"I'm just happy we're winning," said the Swedish superstar, who missed six of the previous eight games with a groin injury. "It's hard not to put pressure on yourself because you want to produce. It would help by scoring a couple of goals. At least I was playing better today. They were not the prettiest points, but I'll take them.

"It was great to get back to playing with Paul and Milan. Milan is such a natural goal-scorer, so it's great to see him get a couple goals."

Stastny and Andrew Brunette each added a pair of assists and Jose Theodore made 28 saves for the Avalanche, who have won seven of their last eight home games.

Henrik Sedin set up two goals for Vancouver, which has lost three in a row.

"We've been up and down in the last couple of months," Luongo said. "I don't think there's any panic setting in. We know that we've bounced back before after a few losses. We've just got to make sure we come to play our next game."

Leopold opened the scoring at 5:10 of the first, firing a loose puck into the net from the right circle during a power play.

But Daniel Sedin knotted the game at 9:59 by converting a pass from twin brother Henrik, and Pyatt unleashed a shot from the slot that trickled between Theodore's pads with 6:42 left in the period to put the Canucks ahead.