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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
DENVER (AP) -- Joe Sakic's assist was important. His goal was
even bigger.
Sakic tied the Colorado assist record in the first period and
added a goal in the third as the Avalanche kept the St. Louis Blues
winless in nearly four years in Denver with a 3-3 tie Thursday
night.
|  | | Avs goalie Patrick Roy makes one of his 27 saves on Pavol Demitra in the second period Thursday. |
"I just shot it on net and luckily it went in," Sakic said.
"Someone was right on me and I didn't have a lot of time."
Eric Messier also scored in the third period and Adam Foote
added a short-handed goal for Colorado, 6-0-2 against the Blues at
home since Dec. 6, 1996. Sakic's assist on Foote's goal gave him
668 for his career, tying Peter Stastny for the franchise lead.
"I wasn't aware of the milestone, but I know Peter was a great
guy to tie," said Sakic, who played two years with Stastny while
the franchise was in Quebec. "What matters is we got a point
against a good hockey team and let's move on."
Pierre Turgeon had two goals, one that bounced off an Avalanche
player past Patrick Roy. Rookie Reed Low added his first NHL goal
for the Blues when Roy misplayed the puck.
Roman Turek stopped 19 shots for the Blues as St. Louis extended
its franchise-best unbeaten streak to nine games (7-0-2).
"We played a solid second period and nearly got a win," St.
Louis coach Joel Quennville said. "This was better than the last
few times we've come here and hopefully we'll someday get a win."
The Blues trailed 1-0 after the first period, although they
outshot Colorado 11-8 and had two power plays. Al MacInnis took two
shots from the slot on the first power play, but the Blues
surrendered Foote's goal at 9:32.
Dave Reid stole the puck at the Colorado blue line and pushed
the puck ahead to Sakic in the neutral zone. Sakic found Foote in
stride at the red line and Foote skated in and beat Turek for a 1-0
Avalanche lead.
The Blues nearly tied it at 16:53 when MacInnis put the puck
over Roy's shoulder. The puck caught the crossbar and fell
harmlessly into the crease.
With Messier off for holding, Turgeon made it 1-1 with a rebound
goal at 6:31 of the second period. Roy stopped a slap shot from the
right point by MacInnis and a rebound attempt by Scott Young, but
couldn't get a stick on Turgeon's shot from in front of the crease.
"I got a great look, but Young made the play," Turgeon said.
"We worked hard for that one, but I got lucky in the second one."
Turgeon struck again at 16:21 to increase the lead to 2-1.
Turgeon sent the puck through the crease from behind the net only
to have Colorado's Milan Hejduk kick it past Roy.
"It seemed that we left our leg in the dressing room in the
second period," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "We dodged a big
bullet in that period and fought back in the third."
The Blues, 50-1-4 when leading after two periods since the start
of the 1998-99 season, allowed the Avalanche to tie it 2-2 at 4:50
of the third when Messier tipped a pass from Stephane Yelle between
the pads of Turek.
Low gave St. Louis the lead back at 7:00 when Roy fanned while
trying to clear the puck and Low tapped it into an empty net. Sakic
beat Turek with a wrist shot through the pads from just inside the
blue line to make it 3-3 at 12:15.
"I never saw it," Turek said. "I felt it glance off my glove,
onto my right pad and into the net."
St. Louis killed a penalty and Turek stopped Sakic's wraparound
attempt midway through overtime.
Game notes
Foote's goal was the first short-handed goal allowed by the
Blues this season and the first allowed on the road since Feb. 4,
1998. ... Low has nine fighting majors in the 10 games he's played.
... Colorado took a season-low two shots in the second period. ...
Dave Reid earned his 200h career assist. ... Colorado was 0-for-3
on the power play against the top penalty killing unit in the NHL.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Colorado Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 2
Ottawa 1
Buffalo 3
NY Islanders 0
Columbus 5
San Jose 2
Philadelphia 2
Edmonton 0
NY Rangers 5
Washington 3
St. Louis 3
Colorado 3
Los Angeles 2
Vancouver 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Adam Foote scores the short-handed goal.
avi: 613 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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