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SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Once Evgeni Nabokov allowed a goal to the Colorado Avalanche , the outcome was determined.

Teemu Selanne snapped a tie 7:10 into the third period against his former team and defenseman Derek Morris collected a career-high four points as the Avalanche extended their unbeaten streak to five games with a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks .

Nabokov had just one loss in his previous seven starts but entered this contest with a 2-8-1 career mark against Colorado. Both wins and the tie came via shutouts. He began this one impressively, turning aside all 13 shots in the first period to maintain a 1-0 lead.

But even without ailing superstar Peter Forsberg , the Avalanche solved Nabokov. Morris and Milan Hejduk scored second-period goals to put Colorado ahead and captain Joe Sakic tallied early in the third to give the Avalanche a 3-2 edge.

Patrick Marleau drew the Sharks even less than two minutes later, but Selanne - who spent parts of the previous three seasons with San Jose - netted a power-play goal 55 seconds thereafter to put Colorado in front for good.

"I think (the Sharks) have great fans and I enjoyed that when they were on my side for 2 1/2 years, and now they're booing, but it's kind of funny," Selanne said. "I can't say it's nice, but I can't say it bothers me. I just want to have a good game and lately, I haven't had much luck in scoring. ... It's a big relief for myself to get the one goal."

"When you've got a guy playing against his old team, you obviously want him to do well," said Colorado coach Tony Granato, who also spent part of his playing career in San Jose. "I thought that was his best game since he's been with us. ... He paid a price to score a big goal for us."

Alex Tanguay increased his league-leading points total with two assists and defenseman Rob Blake also set up two goals for the Avalanche, who have won the last seven meetings with the Sharks.

Nabokov made 27 saves for San Jose, which fell to 0-3-3 at home.

"It was a tough game for us and I don't think we played the way we wanted to play," Nabokov said. "I think we have to play with a road mentality at home right now, and I don't think we did a really good job on that."

Just six seconds after former Avalanche Mike Ricci was penalized for tripping, Selanne grabbed the rebound of Blake's point shot and backhanded it over a sprawled Nabokov at 7:10, snapping a 3-3 tie.

"I've always scored a lot of goals in this building and it's always nice to win in this building, and especially against those guys," Selanne said. "There's a lot of guys I know pretty well and they're a lot of my friends, so it's a little special."

"It's frustrating because they were ripe to be beaten and we had some chances," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "The mistakes we made were simple mistakes to correct but mistakes that you can't make - not covering Teemu, not boxing him out on his winning goal. Defensemen have to do the job in front of our net or we make it too easy to score little tap-in goals like that."

Returning home from a 2-2-3 road trip, the Sharks drew first blood midway through the opening period.

With the teams skating four aside, Wayne Primeau took a pass at the Colorado blue line and raced in alone on David Aebischer , beating the Avalanche goaltender with a high wrist shot to the stick side.

Morris knotted the game 94 seconds into the second, firing a wrister from the left faceoff dot into the top right corner of the net for his second goal.

"I got fortunate on a couple of points," Morris said. "Our forwards did a great job of finding us tonight and getting open for us, so it was easy for the 'D.'"

Hejduk put Colorado ahead at 14:07, snapping a shot from the slot past Nabokov while on the power play. But with 1:55 to go in the period, San Jose forged a 2-2 tie when Marco Sturm drove to the net and deposited a partially blocked shot from Vincent Damphousse behind Aebischer.

Colorado, which had outscored opponents, 10-0, after two periods in its previous four games, continued its late success in this one.

Carrying into the San Jose zone, Sakic cut across the slot and switched to his forehand before unleashing a shot from the right circle that found the left portion of the net at 4:18, giving the Avalanche a 3-2 advantage.

Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart let go a shot from the right point that was blocked in front, but Damphousse got to the loose puck and flipped it to Marleau, who was all alone on the left side at 6:15 for his fifth goal.

"We've got to play a little more consistent at home and not fall into those five-minute or 10-minute spans where we give a lot of chances to the opposition," Damphousse said. "We gotta take advantage of our home games. We did well on the road, but winning games at home is going to be key for us if we want to make the playoffs."