Avalanche Surge Toward Playoff Spot

The Colorado Avalanche have some momentum as they close in on a Western Conference playoff spot.

Milan Hejduk scored 19 seconds into overtime and the Avalanche overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Sunday night and improve to 8-0-1 in their last nine games.

"I went down and tried to fake the shot, and he went down, and I shot it over him," said Hejduk, who beat Evgeni Nabokov for his 45th career game-winning goal. "It's a huge two points for us. It was a big game for us, a big win, and we need to keep it going."

With three weeks left in the regular season, the Avs pulled four points behind eighth-place Calgary and have two games remaining with the struggling Flames - losers of three straight and 1-4-1 in their last six games.

"We are now in a good spot where we have control over our own destiny," said Colorado captain Joe Sakic, who assisted on all four goals. "We got Calgary twice, and that's four points. We just have to keep building off of this and take it into Edmonton. I thought we played pretty solid in the first two periods. We were down by a couple, but we still felt good about ourselves."

In other NHL games Sunday night, it was: Washington 7, Tampa Bay 1; Atlanta 4, Buffalo 3 in overtime; Pittsburgh 4, Ottawa 3 in a shootout; Los Angeles 5, Anaheim 3 and Dallas 5, Phoenix, 4 in overtime.

The Sharks did manage to cool off Paul Stastny, halting his rookie record scoring streak at 20 games.

San Jose was headed to a franchise-record 45th win when it took a 3-1 lead on goals by Joe Thornton, Milan Michalek and Bill Guerin. Instead, the Sharks lost for the first time in eight games.

With the Sharks ahead 3-2 early in the third period, Nabokov made a nifty glove save to turn away the Avalanche's 5-on-3 power play that lasted 67 seconds and produced just two shots.

"My theory is that if you don't score on a 5-on-3, you don't win," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "I don't mind being wrong sometimes."

With 6:46 left, Andrew Brunette scored his career-best 25th goal and 71st point when Ken Klee hit a simple backhand shot from the deep slot and Brunette jammed it into the net, tying it at 3.

"I don't know what the Flames are feeling," Sakic said. "But we know we still have a lot of work to do. I think confidence is a big thing. You can't stress enough that when you put a good win streak together, you play with a lot of confidence, and right now we are believing in one another."

Thrashers 4, Sabres 3, OT

Keith Tkachuk's power-play goal with 38 seconds left in overtime helped Atlanta extend its home winning streak to seven.

Atlanta has 88 points and leads Tampa Bay by six points in the Southeast Division. Ilya Kovalchuk, Eric Belanger and Alexei Zhitnik scored for the Thrashers, who are 8-2 since acquiring Tkachuk and Zhitnik in late February.

Drew Stafford, Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy scored for Eastern Conference-leading Buffalo.

Penguins 4, Senators 3, SO

Jarkko Ruutu had the only goal in the shootout and host Pittsburgh tied Ottawa for fourth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The teams are tied with 92 points, with Ottawa having one more victory and the Penguins holding a game in hand.

Maxime Talbot, Sidney Crosby and Ryan Whitney scored in regulation for Pittsburgh. Antoine Vermette, Daniel Alfredsson and Wade Redden had Ottawa's goals.

Capitals 7, Lightning 1

Alexander Semin had a natural hat trick in the second period, and Tomas Fleischmann added two goals and two assists to help host Washington win consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 6-9.

Boyd Gordon also scored for Washington and Alexandre Giroux got his second NHL goal.

The Capitals are 2-0-1 since goalie Olie Kolzig returned after missing 13 games with a knee injury. Kolzig made 30 saves against the Lightning.

Filip Kuba scored for Tampa Bay.

Kings 5, Ducks 3

At Anaheim, Calif., Mike Cammalleri had two goals and rookie Patrick O'Sullivan had a goal and two assists to lead Los Angeles.

Blake and Sullivan scored in a 1:32 span late in the second period to erase a one-goal deficit and give the Kings a 4-3 lead. Rookie Noah Clarke added a short-handed goal in the third period to secure the win. Los Angeles goalie Mathieu Garon, who replaced starter Sean Burke early in the first period, made 23 saves - including one on a penalty shot by Teemu Selanne.

Travis Moen, Dustin Penner and Selanne scored for the Ducks, who were 6-0-1 in the first seven games of an eight-game homestand.

Stars 5, Coyotes 4, OT

Mike Ribeiro scored two goals, including the game-winner with 40 seconds left in overtime, to help host Dallas improve to 5-1 in its last six games.

Sergei Zubov gave the Stars a 4-3 lead with 4:24 remaining in regulation, scoring his 11th of the season from the right circle. However, Shane Doan tied it at 4 with 1:33 left in regulation while the Coyotes had a 5-on-3.

Niklas Hagman and Brenden Morrow also scored for the Stars. Fredrik Sjostrom, Derek Morris and Mathias Tjarnqvist had Phoenix's other goals.