With one flick of the stick Saturday late in the second period, Joe Sakic tied the St. Louis Blues and Mike Bossy. While hockey historians might view equaling Bossy for 17th on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list (573) as the more significant accomplishment, there might not have been a more important goal for the Avalanche this season.
A team that was starting to look tighter than a Tom Brady spiral was instantly transformed to the relaxed, superior squad it was supposed to have been against the worst team in the Western Conference.
Trailing 1-0, the Avs used Sakic’s wrist shot from the slot as the springboard to a crucial 4-2 victory over the Blues at the sold-out Pepsi Center.
Sakic’s crossover, against- the-grain move and shot finally solved Blues goalie Jason Bacashihua with 3:30 left in the period, and Colorado added three goals in the third for a win that put it back in the thick of the conference race.
“I thought we might have been a little uncomfortable with the puck,” said Avs coach Joel Quenneville, who went 4-0 against his former team this season. “I think everybody’s a little bit more comfortable tied or ahead. You’re pressing when you’re behind, and that was a huge goal for us.”
Quenneville’s graying hair was done no favors through the game’s first 36 minutes. The Blues, thanks to Kevin Dallman’s first-period, power- play goal, had the lead, and the Avs, like Wednesday night, were spending too much time in the penalty box. It was a recipe for an upset loss that could have really hurt the Avs’ season.
The Avs (92 points) are sixth in the conference rankings, three points ahead of eighth- place Vancouver.
As has been the case so many times, it was Sakic to the rescue.
“Every game is going to be tense right now with the race that’s going on,” Sakic said. “It was a big two points. We just stuck to our game plan. They had four guys back. It was a tight game, but once we got the lead, they had to open up a bit.”
Sakic’s goal loosened up the Avs, but it didn’t guarantee a win. Enter Ian Laperriere and Dan Hinote.
Laperriere’s tip of a Kurt Sauer shot from the point eluded Bacashihua for a 2-1 lead at 2:12, and Hinote finished off Cody McCormick’s setup pass off the rush for a 3-1 edge at 6:14.
It was Laperriere’s 20th goal this season, the first time in his career he hit the number and the sixth Avs player to do so this season.
“I thought we had a pretty good shift right before the goal. Brett McLean and (Antti) Laaksonen were cycling the puck for a while,” Laperriere said. “I knew something was going to come out of it. You get that feeling sometimes. I positioned myself in front of the net and it wasn’t too hard of a shot. I just tipped it.”
But the Blues kept pressing, and Keith Tkachuk’s power-play goal with 1:07 left made it 3-2. St. Louis pulled Bacashihua for the extra attacker for the final minute.
But Milan Hejduk was credited with a goal when he tipped Sakic’s clearout pass around the boards and the puck curled into the open net from about 195 feet away.
“We have another big game (tonight) against Minnesota,” Sakic said. “Hopefully, we can get another two points and put a little bit of a gap between us and Vancouver and (L.A.).”
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
