In his second season in the NHL, Joe Sakic roomed with Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur. Sakic briefly shared a spot on the all-time goal-scoring list with Lafleur on Tuesday night.
Sakic’s second-period power-play goal broke a 10-game scoring slump and tied him with Lafleur for 18th on the NHL list with 560 goals.
Sakic tapped home the rebound of Alex Tanguay’s shot to give Colorado a 2-1 lead over Calgary in a 7-4 Avs’ victory.
Sakic got his 561st goal at 7:41 of the second period, again on the power play.
“I learned a lot from Guy,” Sakic said. “He’s a great guy, and it’s an honor to be mentioned with him.”
Thoughts on Mario
Avalanche players were surprised by the sudden retirement of Pittsburgh star Mario Lemieux.
“To me, he was the best player of all when he was healthy,” Tanguay said. “He just had so much skill, it was incredible.”
Avs defenseman Rob Blake, a former Canadian Olympic teammate of Lemieux’s, called it a big loss for hockey.
Wolski on scoring spree
Avalanche prospect Wojtek Wolski, who started the season with the team, scored a franchise-record seven points Sunday for the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League. He was named OHL player of the week with 13 points in three games.
Wolski had four goals and three assists in the game. Since being reassigned to the Battalion, Wolski has 22 goals and 64 points. He is not eligible to return to the Avs this season because of his age (19).
Footnotes
The Avs sent out first-round playoff invoices to season-ticket holders. … With his first-period assist, Avs forward Brett McLean achieved at least one point in 10 of his past 13 games (three goals, 10 assists).
