Sakic reaches milestone as Avs finish season with win

Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 9, 2007 at midnight

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The game wasn't significant in terms of the NHL standings or upcoming playoffs, but the Avalanche was determined to finish off a disappointing season on a positive note.

At least that goal was accomplished Sunday night with a 6-3 win over the Calgary Flames at the Pepsi Center, where the Avalanche was given a rousing ovation from the announced crowd of 17,551 after the final buzzer.

"This is a special place to play and we really appreciated that," said captain Joe Sakic, whose three points gave him 100 for the season.

Sakic called Denver "a great hockey city" and said there is no doubt that he will sign a new contract and wear an Avalanche uniform again next year.

"Oh, yeah, for sure," said Sakic, who otherwise would be eligible for unrestricted free agency July 1.

Goalie Jose Theodore's future with the Avalanche isn't so clear. He started for just the third time since Feb. 25 and made 29 saves for his 13th win in 29 decisions, but Peter Budaj established himself as the Avalanche's No. 1 man in the crease while winning a career-high 31 games.

Speculation has been ongoing that the Avalanche might buy out the final year of Theodore's contract, which is worth $6 million next season and counts as $5.3 million against the NHL salary cap.

The win was Theodore's first on home ice since a 5-4 overtime decision against Florida on Feb. 6, but he wasn't available for comment.

The Avalanche was eliminated from the playoff race Saturday with a 4-2 loss to Nashville, which secured the final Western Conference postseason berth for the Flames, who open first-round play Thursday against top-seeded Detroit.

The Avalanche finished 15-2-2 in its final 19 games to end with a 44-31-7 record, good for 95 points, one point behind the Flames.

"It's disappointing, but there's nothing we can do about it now," Sakic said. "The guys gave it their all down the stretch to give us an opportunity. I know everybody believes and knows what it takes to win. We grew up a lot and I know it's going to be big going into next year to get off to a good start."

The Avalanche squandered too many leads and valuable points in the first two-thirds of the season and didn't enjoy as much success at home as in previous seasons. The Avalanche had a better record on the road (22-15-4) than at the Pepsi Center (22-16-3).

"We're the only people to blame, nobody else," said Andrew Brunette, who had career highs for goals (27), assists (56) and points (83) and is signed through next season. "Hopefully, we've learned a few lessons.

"It's real imperative that we get off on the right foot next year. This year, we spent too much time on a kind of roller-coaster ride and we can't do that. The Western Conference is too tough. It's too hard to make up points and to expect us to go on a run like we did next year, it won't happen."

The Avalanche got third-period goals from Sakic, Scott Parker and rookie Paul Stastny against Flames goalie Jamie McLennan, who played for just the ninth time this season to give Vezina Trophy winner Miikka Kiprusoff a rest.

The Avalanche also got goals from Ben Guite, Brunette and rookie Wojtek Wolski, who tied the score 3-3 late in the second period to give him 22 goals and 50 points for the season.

David Moss, Marcus Nilson and former Avalanche center Stephane Yelle scored for the Flames.

Ian Laperriere took exception to a third-period charge by Dion Phaneuf, who sent Tyler Arnason sprawling with a high hit, and got the better of the Flames defenseman in a fight that energized the crowd.

"Nineteen players out of 20 on their team knew exactly the way the game was going to be played," Laperriere said. "Play hard, but don't be stupid. It was a stupid hit there. We don't want to hurt them going into the playoffs and nobody wants to get hurt going into the summer.

"He decided to take a run at Arnason and I thought it was the time to come. You got to respect the game. (Phaneuf) is a big man, but he knew I was coming for him to get that first (punch) in. I just did my thing after that."

ETC.: Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere and coach Joel Quenneville will discuss the state of the team with reporters at the Pepsi Center today. . . . Aside from Kiprusoff, the Flames sat out captain Jarome Iginla, Daymond Langkow and Robyn Regehr. . . . The Avalanche scratched Karlis Skras-tins and Marek Svatos (groin).

Calgary......1	2	0	-	3
Colorado......0	3	3	-	6

First period - 1, Cal, Moss 10 (Stuart, Tanguay), 17:59. Penalties - Tanguay, Cal (holding stick), 3:50; Klee, Col, (slashing), 9:29; Yelle, Cal (cross-checking), 15:06; Stastny, Col, (hooking), 19:07.

Second period - 2, Col, Guite 3 (Finger, Rycroft), 1:14. 3, Cal, Nilson 5 (Yelle, Tanguay), 5:56. 4, Col, Brunette 27 (Sakic), 10:36. 5, Cal, Yelle 10 (Amonte, Ritchie), 14:37. 6, Col, Wolski 22 (Sakic, Brunette), 17:14. Penalties - Giordano, Cal (delay of game), 1:47; Brunette, Col, (hooking), 8:00; Amonte, Cal (holding), 19:37.

Third period - 7, Col, Sakic 36 (Stastny, Liles), :44 (pp). 8, Col, Parker 1 (Guite, Vaananen), 3:09. 9, Col, Stastny 28 (Hejduk, McLean), 19:15. Penalties - Phaneuf, Cal, minor-major (charging, fighting), 10:57; Laperriere, Col, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 10:57; Godard, Cal (hooking), 14:29; Sakic, Col, (hooking), 15:16.

Shots - Cal 11-12-9 - 32. Col 4-15-13 - 32. Power plays - Cal 0 of 4; Col 1 of 5. Goalies - Cal, McLennan 3-5-1 (32 shots-26 saves). Col, Theodore 13-15-1 (32-29). A - 17,551 (18,007). T - 2:17. Referees - Kerry Fraser, Brad Watson. Linesmen - Brian Mach, Anthony Sericolo.