Eurolanche

Late goal from Hejda wins it for Avs

Defenseman Jan Hejda scored with 7.6 seconds remaining in the third period Saturday to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Pepsi Center.

Hejda blasted the puck from the left point past screened goalie Cory Schneider for his first goal of the season.

The victory was the Avalanche's first regulation win in 21 games against the Canucks since a 3-2 decision on Oct. 8, 2009.

The Avalanche tied the game 3-3 on PA Parenteau's goal with 7:03 to play in regulation. Matt Duchene passed into the slot to Parenteau, who managed to one-time the puck by Schneider despite being checked by defenseman Jason Garrison.

Garrison put the Canucks in front 3-2 at 3:27 of the third period, 85 seconds after the Avalanche tied the game on a goal by Cody McLeod.

The Vancouver defenseman ripped a shot by Avalanche goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the right point for his first goal in nine games, since he scored against the Avalanche on March 24.

McLeod, who had gone 24 games without a goal since netting one Feb. 24 against Anaheim, poked the puck underneath Schneider at 2:02 of the third off a pass from Ryan O'Reilly, who had knocked it away from Vancouver's Max Lapierre in the corner.

The Canucks got goals from Lapierre and Jannik Hansen 2:14 apart early in the second period to take a 2-1 lead.

Lapierre beat Giguere to the short side with a shot from the middle of the right circle at 4:30 after taking a pass from Ryan Kesler. The play started when O'Reilly spun around and fired the puck from inside his blue line into the neutral zone. Alexander Edler whacked it right back to Kesler, who fed Lapierre skating unchecked on the right side.

Hansen scored his first goal in 12 games during a scramble in front after Daniel Sedin shot the puck through the goalmouth. It went right to Hansen, who slipped it by an off-balance Duchene at 6:44.

Hansen was given the chance to skate on the Canucks' top line with the Sedin twins after being benched for the final 9:21 in Vancouver's 4-1 win on Wednesday against Calgary.

Colorado had back-to-back power plays later in the second period but was held without a shot on goal during both man advantages.

The Avalanche felt they should have been given another power play with 6.3 seconds left in the period when Hansen's stick came up and clipped McLeod after the players collided, but a penalty wasn't assessed.

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog opened the scoring at 1:50 of the first period following a giveaway by Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa. Bieksa passed out of the corner right to Landeskog in the slot for a shot that eluded Schneider to the stick side.

Bieksa came close to making up for his gaffe with 1:30 remaining in the period when he took a shot that bounced off the goal post.

-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --