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Svatos, Avalanche jolt Flames

Feb 3, 2009 - 6:18 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Marek Svatos recorded two goals and an assist as the Colorado Avalanche snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 triumph over the Calgary Flames on Monday in a battle of Northwest Division rivals.

All-Star Milan Hejduk and defenseman Ruslan Salei also scored for Colorado, which won for just the second time in its last nine games (2-7-0).

Ryan Smyth and Tyler Arnason notched two assists apiece and Peter Budaj turned aside 36 shots for the Avalanche, who improved to 17-0-0 when leading after two periods.

"It's very nice," Svatos said of the win. "The mood in the dressing room wasn't very good and obviously we lost a few key games. Right now we have to get on a winning streak and try to catch those teams (ahead of us)."

"We were really disappointed about our other losses," Budaj said. "We came back strong. today, but this is nothing. We have to keep winning, keep winning, keep winning. That's got to be the attitude that we're coming to games with. Every game is a playoff game."

Captain Jarome Iginla, Rene Bourque and defenseman Adrian Aucoin scored and Miikka Kiprusoff finished with 38 saves for Calgary, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 14-4-1 in its last 19 games.

"We knew they'd be ready, knew they'd be hungry at home," Iginla said. "They were ready to play. On the one side, we got enough chances to win, but at the same time we gave up too many."

With the game tied at 3-3 with 4:38 remaining in the second period, Svatos gained a step on Flames' blue-liner Dion Phaneuf and deflected Cody McLeod's centering attempt past Kiprusoff for his 11th goal of the season.

"Before the game, we said we have to get as many pucks on the net as we can," Svatos said. "(McLeod) tried to shoot and kind of missed the shot and fortunately for me the puck went on my stick. So that was a fortunate goal."

After Bourque opened the scoring 7:43 into the first period, Svatos leveled the contest nearly five minutes later after accepting a pass from Arnason and wristing the puck between the pads of Kiprusoff.

Hejduk gave Colorado a brief 2-1 advantage just 34 seconds into the second period with a power-play goal - and made history in the process.

The tally gave Hejduk 636 career points, tying him with Anton Stastny for fifth place on the franchise's career list.

"I didn't even know about it," Hejduk said. "It means I've played a lot of games for the franchise."

Aucoin answered with a blast from just inside the blue line, but Salei's slap shot beat Kiprusoff to help the Avalanche regain the lead just 63 seconds later.

Colorado finished the game with 42 shots, the fourth-highest total allowed by the Flames this season.

"We were playing against a desperate team who had just lost four games in a row," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said. "They had a lot of energy. We were a little bit too loose defensively."