Avalanche Storm By Oilers

Joe Sakic had a goal and two assists and Theo Fleury added four assists as the Colorado Avalanche denied the Edmonton Oilers a chance to move into the final Western Conference playoff spot with a 5-2 victory Saturday night.

In a game of milestones, Sakic reached 600 assists with a pair. Fleury played his 800th game and ninth as a member of the Avalanche and has eight goals and 11 assists.

Colorado remained unbeaten in its last six games (5-0-1).

Patrick Roy stopped 30 shots to move past Glenn Hall for fourth place on the regular season victory list. Only Terry Sawchuk (447), Jacques Plante (434) and Tony Esposito (423) remain ahead of Roy, who is 408-240-95.

Rem Murray and Ryan Smyth had power-play goals for Edmonton, which was 2-for-7 on the power play. The Oilers remained a point behind Calgary for the eighth conference playoff spot after Calgary lost 5-1 at home to Toronto.

Edmonton outshot the Avalanche 13-6, was 2-for-4 on the power play and dominated play for all but the final two minutes of the first period to lead 2-1.

Murray cashed in an inadvertently perfect centering pass from Colorado defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre for his 17th of the year, rebounding his own shot past Roy. Smyth tapped in a shot from the slot by Bill Guerin for his 11th.

The Avalanche pressured goalie Bob Essensa, but didn't convert its chances until Peter Forsberg circled the net and sent a shot past the stick side with 14.5 seconds remaining in the period.

Colorado took the momentum into the second period and got goals from Milan Hejduk and Sandis Ozolinsh to grab a 3-2 lead. After killing two early penalties, Essensa stopped a shot by Sakic, but Hejduk was nearby to put it home.

Ozolinsh faked Murray to the ice and got the go-ahead goal with a wrist shot from the slot.

Sakic extended Colorado's lead to 4-2 at 8:03 of the third period with his 39th of the year and Shjon Podein added aempty net goal.

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