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DENVER (Ticker) -- Two nights after breaking out of their Pepsi Center scoring slump, the
Colorado Avalanche
broke their Pepsi Center winless streak.
Joe Sakic
had another big game with a goal and two assists and linemate
Milan Hejduk
added a goal and an assist as the Avalanche snapped an eight-game home winless streak with a 5-1 victory over the
San Jose Sharks
.
Sakic recorded his second hat trick of the season Wednesday, but Colorado squandered three two-goal leads and settled for a 5-5 tie with the
Vancouver Canucks
that left them 0-4-3-1 at home since February 3.
"Anytime you go through a streak that we went through the last couple of weeks, it's nice to get some offense going and get some production," Avalanche left wing
Paul Kariya
said. "We knew if we stuck with it and continued to work hard, then it was going to come out."
The Avalanche's long-time captain, Sakic did not miss a beat against the Sharks. He set up Hejduk's goal 6:22 into the first period that opened a 2-0 lead and also picked up an assist on
Alex Tanguay
's tally at 5:20 of the second.
Sakic made it five goals in three games less than three minutes later when he banked a centering pass off the left skate of San Jose goaltender
Evgeni Nabokov
and into the net.
"Anytime you start to play better, it makes it easier to pick up a point here and there, especially when you've got guys like Joe who can put the puck in the net all the time," said Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles, who had two assists. "I just try to get him the puck as much as possible."
Tough guy
Peter Worrell
had the other goal for Colorado, which opened a three-point lead over second-place Vancouver in the Northwest Division.
"We can't worry about Vancouver, but they lost tonight and we're three points ahead and that's good for us," said
David Aebischer
, who made 27 saves.
Alex Korolyuk
scored for the Sharks, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. San Jose also lost second-leading scorer
Marco Sturm
after he dislocated his left ankle in the first period.
"Obviously, it didn't look very good on the ice, but there are positive things," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "There at first didn't appear to be any fractures."
"He was our second-leading scorer and it looks like he'll be gone for the rest of the year," San Jose center
Vincent Damphousse
added. "It looked pretty bad out there and we're going to have to go without him and try to fill the void."
Steve Moore
put Colorado ahead for good when he put in a rebound to open the scoring at 2:17 of the first period. Sakic slid the puck to Hejduk to set up his 31st goal just over four minutes later.
Tanguay got his 25th after corraling a long outlet pass from Foote, matching a career high with his 77th point.
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