ATLANTA (AP) - Milan Hejduk gave Colorado the lead 42 seconds into the third period, Craig Anderson protected the advantage the rest of the way and the Avalanche beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-2, on Friday night.
Anderson stopped 24 shots to help Colorado end a five-game road winless streak.
With Colorado leading 3-2, Anderson deflected Ben Eager's shot in front of the net with about two minutes remaining, then denied the Thrashers on a power play in the final 1:24.
The Thrashers pulled goalie Ondrej Pavelec for the power play and gave up Paul Stastny's empty-net goal.
Tomas Fleischmann and Greg Mauldin also scored and the Avalanche ended the Thrashers' home winning streak at six. The Thrashers were denied matching the longest home streak in franchise history.
Niclas Bergfors and Bryan Little scored for Atlanta.
Pavelec stopped 25 shots. He took only his third loss in his streak of 11 straight starts.
The Thrashers, who face a league-high 34.9 shots per game, were outshot 16-5 in the first period but took a 1-0 lead when Bergfors scored 5:37 into the game on Atlanta's first shot on goal.
The Avalanche answered with two goals in the second period. Fleischmann scored a power-play goal early in the period to tie the game. On Atlanta's first power-play opportunity of the contest, Mauldin took the puck away from Dustin Byfuglien and scored a short-handed goal for a 2-1 lead.
The Thrashers pulled even on Little's goal late in the second period.
Anderson improved to 4-1-1 against Atlanta in his career.
NOTES: Atlanta coach Craig Ramsey plans to rest Pavelec and start Chris Mason on Saturday at the New York Islanders. ... The Thrashers won seven straight home games from March 2-18, 2007, on their way to the Southeast Division championship and the only playoff appearance in franchise history. ... F Brandon Yip returned to Colorado's lineup. He was a healthy scratch against Florida on Tuesday.
| Three star selections | |
| 1st: | |
| 2nd: | |
| 3rd: | |
|
Winning Goaltender |
Losing Goaltender |
Print
