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Old stud in new duds Avalanche pour on the offense in Bourque's debut
Posted: Wednesday March 08, 2000 01:51 AM
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Ray Bourque made an instant impact on the Colorado Avalanche. The defenseman, acquired after 21 seasons with the Boston Bruins, had an assist in his Colorado debut Tuesday night as the Avalanche had their largest offensive output of the season in an 8-3 victory over the Calgary Flames. Joe Sakic had three goals, Stephane Yelle scored twice and Chris Drury had four assists for the Avalanche, 5-0 against Calgary this season. Sakic has eight career hat tricks. "We all know what Ray Bourque can do on the ice, but it's what he did in the room, the lift he gave us," said Adam Foote, Bourque's teammate on Canada's 1998 Olympic team. "Everyone felt like going all out tonight, we were a different team out there." The Avalanche moved four points ahead of Calgary in the Western Conference and into a tie with the Edmonton Oilers for the Northwest Division lead. Bourque and forward Dave Andreychuk were acquired Monday as part of a five-player deal with Boston, where Bourque had spent his entire NHL career. "In Boston, we weren't going to make the playoffs. It wasn't a positive feeling and it wears on you," Bourque said. "This game is great when you're winning and that's what I need right now." Despite a long day of travel, Bourque showed no signs of fatigue. He logged a game-high 20 minutes and finished plus-four. "I was surprised how good I felt," Bourque said. "I thought it was going to be really tough and it's nice to start off with a win." Bourque, paired on defense with Foote, sat out the third period for precautionary reasons with a slight groin strain. He is expected to play Friday night at Edmonton. "He's an exceptional player, a Hall-of-Famer, and just what this team needed," Foote said. "In my 4 1/2 years here in Colorado, sometimes it seems like we've just been going through the motions. But tonight, it seemed like everybody wanted to prove something to Ray Bourque." Adam Deadmarsh, Dave Reid and Milan Hejduk also scored for the Avalanche, who have won three straight. Valeri Bure, Andreas Johansson, and Jason Wiemer had goals for the Flames, who had their five-game unbeaten streak come to an end. "It was a game where the pucks they put on the net, went in the net, plain and simple," Flames coach Brian Sutter said. In their five victories, the Avalanche outscored the Flames 27-8. "They played well, but a lot of the stuff they got we gave them," said Jarome Iginla, whose NHL season-high 16-game point scoring streak came to an end. "We didn't do any of the things we wanted to do tonight." Iginla's linemate, Marc Savard, had his 10-game point-scoring streak snapped as well. Colorado broke open a 3-3 tie in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals. Drury set up Reid at 5:07 and then Yelle's second at 7:53 made it 5-3. Bourque, the NHL's career top scoring defenseman, picked up his first Colorado point -- combining with Alex Tanguay to set up Hejduk at 10:40. Sakic completed the second-period scoring by beating Grant Fuhr, on in relief of Fred Brathwaite, from a bad angle with seven seconds left in the period. Fuhr's first appearance since Dec. 15th lasted less than 10 minutes. After facing just three shots, Brathwaite returned for the final period. After Bure's 35th on the power-play gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 4:15 of the first, the Avalanche stormed back with three goals in the span of a minute. Yelle tied it at 9:13, swiping the puck under Brathwaite, as the center was being knocked to the ice by Flames defenseman Darryl Shannon. Colorado took the lead 31 seconds later when Deadmarsh whacked in Peter Forsberg's rebound from close-in. The Avalanche made it three goals on three shots when Sakic scored for the first time.
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