With Colorado's Adam Foote serving an interference penalty, Forsberg's fifth goal of the season put the Avalanche ahead 2-1. Forsberg carried the puck over the blue line and down the right wing, warding off Vancouver defenseman Jyrki Lumme.
Forsberg picked up speed as he skated around the goal and slid
the puck into the net with goaltender Kirk McLean still
scrambling to get back into position.
"I intercepted off of somebody and I just gave it to Peter and
he can do the rest," Sakic said. "It was nice to see us shut
them down through three periods. We're getting to play better
that way and that's how we were playing in the playoffs last year."
Vancouver was frustrated and embarrassed by the Avalanche for the second straight game. On Saturday, Colorado thrashed the Canucks 9-2 in Denver.
"I don't know if it's our expectations or what but we're not
turning our effort into shots," Lumme said. "We're not getting
enough shots. It's tough when you get a power-play chance in
the third in a tie game, a chance to do something and a guy like
that stuffs it in your face ... but it happens. After that, we
took some chances and they put them away."
Keane's second goal with 5:52 remaining gave Colorado a 3-1
lead. Stephane Yelle dug the puck out along the boards and slid
a pass into the slot, where a cutting Keane whipped a wrist shot
over McLean's left shoulder.
Rene Corbet tapped in Sakic's cross-crease pass just under four
minutes later for his second goal of the season and a 4-1 lead.
Sakic's three assists gave him a league-leading 18 points.
"When you're not scoring, you have to do something," Sakic said.
"They used to call me a playmaker anyway. This was a better
game for them than the last one, but I like the way we played."
Patrick Roy made 20 saves to improve to 15-6-1 lifetime against
the Canucks.
"It was a more enjoyable game than the last one for both teams,"
Avalanche coach Marc Crawford said. "I like the way we played
for 60 minutes tonight. Obviously, that Peter short-handed goal
was a huge lift. We got consistency from start to finish and we
haven't been getting that so far this year, especially on the
road. Patrick (Roy) was solid again but we cleared the net and
gave him a good look and not too many rebounds."
Mike Sillinger gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead with his third goal
4:30 into the second period, but Adam Deadmarsh tied it with a
power-play tally less than three minutes later.
"We gave it a good effort tonight, especially after that 9-2 loss the other night," Canucks coach Tom Renney said. "But we could've taken this game to them more ... the bottom line is we still played a hell of a lot better. I don't think it's beyond this group to beat that team, they're good, but not unstoppable. We're still a little unsure about how our system turns into offense. We still have to keep pushing the right buttons on offense."
Forsberg skated through the left circle and left a drop pass for
Deadmarsh, who put a wrist shot over McLean's left shoulder for his second goal.
The Avalanche have won four straight regular-season games in Vancouver. McLean, who was torched for nine goals on 32 shots in Saturday's loss, made 27
saves.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Peter Forsberg
2. Joe Sakic
3. Adam Foote
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