Against the stingiest defensive team in the NHL, the Avalanche scored nine goals Sunday night. By the end of the Avs’ 9-5 victory at the Pepsi Center, hats littered the ice from Milan Hejduk’s hat trick, and Blues goalie Hannu Toivonen was pulled from the game by coach Andy Murray — for the second time.
Murray’s curious decision to bench Toivonen twice was just one of the many surprising aspects about the game, starting with Hejduk’s career-high six point night. Hejduk’s hat trick was his fifth of his career, and the victory was the 1,000th regular-season win in Avs franchise history.
The line of Hejduk, Paul Stastny and Ryan Smyth was spectacular, with Stastny tallying five points (two goals and three assists) and Smyth getting a goal and two assists.
The Avs turned a 2-2 game early in the second into 6-2 entering the third, busting loose against Toivonen. The line of Stastny, Hejduk and Smyth earned points on three of the four goals.
Stastny untied the score, one-timing home Jaroslav Hlinka’s excellent crossing pass after a nice, long shift by Hlinka’s line, with Tyler Arnason and Marek Svatos. Wojtek Wolski made it 4-2 at 11:28 after a nice Andrew Brunette setup from behind the net, and Brett Clark made it 5-2 at 14:38 when he followed up a 3-on-1 Avs break, rebounding home Hejduk’s shot.
The Blues got within 6-4 in the third before the Avs put the game away.
