Football
Associated Press 16y

Joe Sakic's hat trick helps Avalanche beat Blue Jackets 5-1

DENVER -- Joe Sakic is closing in on another franchise
milestone.

Sakic had his 15th career hat trick to help the Colorado
Avalanche beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 on Saturday night. He
is one hat trick shy of tying Peter Stastny for the franchise
record.

"I didn't realize it was 15," said Sakic, who now has 614
career goals. "Hopefully, there will be another one."

The 38-year-old team captain scored twice in the third period,
helping the Avalanche pull away. He scored a power-play goal early
in the third, and then added his fourth goal of the season with
9:22 left when he beat Blue Jackets goalie Pascal Leclaire with a
shot from the right circle.

"He's a pretty good shooter, and he took the corner and the
post," Leclaire said. "They get a lot of traffic out there with
(Ryan) Smyth, and he's got a good shot."

Milan Hejduk had two goals and an assist, and Peter Budaj had 24
saves for Colorado, which rebounded from a 4-1 loss to St. Louis on
Friday.

"Tonight, finally we were able to put some pucks on the net and
it was a totally different game," Hejduk said.

Sakic gave the Avalanche the early lead at the 6:07 mark of the
opening period. Andrew Brunette, with a defenseman draped on him,
skated around the Columbus net and put a shot on goal. The puck
deflected off of Sakic's arm and past Leclaire.

"He had a great game tonight, and not just his production,"
Avalanche coach Joel Quennville said of Sakic. "I thought he had
good energy, he played well all over the ice. It was his best game
of the year."

Rostislav Klesla tied the game with a shot from just inside the
blueline that handcuffed Budaj at the 1:24 mark of the second
period.

Colorado broke open a 1-all game early in the second period.
Hejduk one-timed a pass from Smyth in front of the Blue Jackets net
that Leclaire stopped. But Hejduk got his own rebound and beat
Leclaire high to make it 2-1.

"Their power play, they got a lot of loose pucks and created a
lot of momentum for themselves," Blue Jackets head coach Ken
Hitchcock said. "They lost last night and were disappointed, and
they played at a level of intensity that we had some people that
were unable to keep that level or get up to that level."

Minutes later, Hejduk took a shot from the right circle to make
it 3-1.

"We got on the board early and Milan got a couple of goals for
us to make it 3-1," Sakic said. "Instead of hanging on, we pulled
away."

Columbus forward Rick Nash nearly tied the game late in the
first period, but he couldn't get control of the puck with an open
left side of the net in front of him. Once he did corral the puck,
his shot went off Budaj's helmet.

Late in the second period, Budaj got his right pad to the post
just as Blue Jackets winger David Vyborny tried to stuff the puck
in the net.

Both teams killed off 5-on-3 power plays in the first period.

Game notes
Columbus had killed off 19 straight penalties before
Hejduk's power-play goal in the second period. It was the
11th-longest such streak in franchise history. ... The Avalanche is
now 22-1-1-1 against Columbus since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL
in 2000. Sakic's last hat trick came March 3, 2004, against the
Vancouver Canucks. Leclaire's shutout streak ended at 156:29. It's
the longest in franchise history. The previous mark was 155:28 set
by Fredrik Norrena from Dec. 2-9, 2006.

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