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Clark celebrates birthday with OT winner

Dec 24, 2008 - 5:56 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Brett Clark's birthday was made a little more special.

The just-turned 32-year-old defenseman scored the game-winner 1:48 seconds into overtime, lifting the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-4 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday.

Clark received a pass in the high slot from Tyler Arnason, deked a sliding Coyotes defender and blasted a slap shot past Ilya Bryzgalov.

"I made a fake and the one guy bit on it," Clark said. "I just took it in the slot and, fortunately, it went in the net."

Paul Stastny, Ryan Smyth and defenseman John Michael Liles all scored a goal and set up two others and Andrew Raycroft made 19 saves in his fourth straight win for the Avalanche, who have alternated wins and losses over the last seven games.

"Tonight, we just felt like right from the outset - even though they got that goal - we still found ways to claw our way back into it," Smyth said. "The result is we found a way to win."

Clark also had an assist and Milan Hejduk netted the other goal for Colorado, which started a three-game homestand.

Captain Shane Doan scored two goals in the final five minutes of regulation to tie the game for Phoenix, which is still 4-1-3 over its last eight contests.

"As a group, we did a lot of things you need to do to be successful at this level," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky. "Colorado outskated us, outhit us, outplayed us. But you know what, it's a long season. We have to regroup now and get ready for Friday and Saturday."

Olli Jokinen had a goal and two assists and Joakim Lindstrom also tallied while Bryzgalov turned aside 43 shots for the Coyotes. Blue-liner Ed Jovanovski added two assists.

"It was a tough game for us," Bryzgalov said. "We arrived last night around 4 a.m. and with the altitude here. Colorado played very well tonight. The bottom line is we got a point."

Jokinen knotted the game at 2-2 at 6:48 of the third period with his 11th goal of the season. But Liles converted Stastny's rebound on a power play with 7:55 left and Smyth netted another 98 seconds later to give Colorado a 4-2 edge.

After Doan halved the deficit with 4:07 to play, Clark was whistled for interference and the Coyotes capitalized on the man advantage. With an extra attacker on the ice as well, Doan beat Raycroft with a slap shot to even the contest at 4-4.

"For us to get the two goals late was huge," Doan said. "Olli was great in the third. He and Peter (Mueller) were really great in the third. Fortunately, we found a way to get one point. It's just disappointing not to get two."

The Avalanche may have suffered a bigger loss as Stastny suffered a fractured right forearm late the third period, blocking a shot while on a penalty kill.