Avalanche 6-1-1 in last eight games

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Game Information

Arena: Pepsi Arena Location: Denver, Colorado

Referees: DanMarouelli, MichaelMcGeough Linesmen: WayneBonney, DarrenGibbs

Attendance: 18,007 (100.0% full)

Team Stat Comparison
214	Goals	212
190	Goals Against	169
73	Power Play Goals	62
49	Power Play Goals Allowed	41
5	Shorthanded Goals	7
6	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	7
1348	Penalty Minutes	1007
16	Average Penalty Minutes	12

Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD			LOS	COL
12:09		Adam Deadmarsh Unassisted	1	0
2ND PERIOD			LOS	COL
9:46		Adam Foote (Shorthanded) Assists: Rob Blake, Brad Larsen	1	1
15:48		Joe Sakic Assists: Alex Tanguay, Ville Nieminen	1	2
19:20		Adam Deadmarsh (Power Play) Assists: Jason Allison, Jaroslav Modry	2	2
3RD PERIOD			LOS	COL
0:34		Jason Allison Assists: Adam Deadmarsh, Zigmund Palffy	3	2
13:07		Mike Keane Assists: Joe Sakic	3	3
18:51		Ville Nieminen Assists: Rob Blake, Greg de Vries	3	4

DENVER (AP) -- Ville Nieminen was frustrated about an early disallowed goal. It didn't take long for him to get over it.

Nieminen scored with 1:09 left, and Colorado had two goals in the third period as the Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Saturday.

Nieminen thought he had a goal 9:51 in after he crashed into Los Angeles goalie Felix Potvin, but the officials blew the whistle before the puck trickled into the net. He scored the game-winner in heavy traffic when a shot from Rob Blake bounced off his skate.

"I was pretty mad after the first one, and I hope they don't show that over and over again or I am going to break the TV," said Nieminen, who scored his eighth goal and third game-winner.

"Those are pretty goals for me -- everything that comes to me is a garbage goal. I can pick up the garbage if I have to, and they are always fun."

Colorado improved to 6-1-1 in its last eight games and is 4-1-1 since the Olympic break.

Former Colorado forward Adam Deadmarsh had two goals and an assist for Los Angeles, 1-2-1-1 in its last five games.

Colorado's Joe Sakic, who became the 34th player in NHL history to play 1,000 games with one team, set up the tying goal after stealing a pass from Mattias Norstrom in the Kings' zone.

Sakic shot from the point after the steal, and Mike Keane punched the rebound past Felix Potvin with 6:53 left. It was Keane's fifth goal of the season and first since he was traded from the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 11.

Sakic also scored with 4:12 left in the second period on a nice give-and-go with Alex Tanguay that put the Avalanche up 2-1. It was his 23rd of the season.

"It was great the way my 1,000th game ended up, with a win," said Sakic, who has four goals and seven assists in a six-game point-scoring streak.

Deadmarsh scored with 7:51 left in the first period after a turnover by Adam Foote in the Colorado zone. Foote whiffed on a pass near the right circle, and Deadmarsh flicked the puck into an open net after Patrick Roy bit on a fake.

Foote redeemed himself with a short-handed goal at 9:46 of the second period after a mistake by Los Angeles defenseman Mathieu Schneider.

Schneider dived to the ice to keep the puck in the Kings zone on a power play, but missed with no one behind him. He got up in time to pull down Foote from behind, but the Colorado defenseman still beat Potvin to the stick side as he was falling.

It was Foote's fifth of the season, tying a career high, and Colorado's fifth short-handed goal.

"We served up two pucks in the middle of the ice that allowed them to get the goals they needed," said Los Angeles coach Andy Murray, in his second game after missing five while recovering from a car accident. "They create enough chances. We don't need to."

Deadmarsh tied it at 2 with 40 seconds left in the second when a shot by Jason Allison bounced off his skate through Roy's legs on a power play. It was his 25th of the season.

Allison needed just 34 seconds of the third period to put Los Angeles up 3-2, circling from behind the net and lifting a back-hander over a diving Roy. Deadmarsh had an assist on the goal, Allison's 16th.

"You always want to win every game, but this one you want to win a bit more," said Deadmarsh, who was traded to Los Angeles for Blake last February. "You want to win against a team like Colorado because we could meet up against them later."

Roy, who allowed two or fewer goals in 13 of 17 starts, made 18 saves.

Potvin stopped 20 shots.

Game notes
Sakic has 16 points in 10 games. ... The game was part of a doubleheader at the Pepsi Center. Crews reconfigured the arena for an NBA game between Denver and Portland at night. ... Kings forward Kelly Buchberger sprained his right ankle after slamming into the boards on a missed check and didn't play in the final two periods. ... Los Angeles is 16-6-2-2 since Jan. 1. ... Colorado ended the franchise's longest home stand 6-2-1.