DENVER -- In 463 career NHL games, Jim Cummins has only 24 goals. His latest was a game-winner.
Cummins' goal Tuesday helped Colorado beat the Calgary Flames 4-2 on a night the Avalanche retired goalie Patrick Roy's No. 33.
Cummins, a grinder who hadn't scored since March 18, 2001, put Colorado ahead 3-1 in the second period.
Martin Gelinas' second goal of the game cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the third period before Rob Blake scored into an empty net with 30 seconds left.
Asked when he had last scored a game-winning goal, Cummins said, "I don't know. I don't have a lot of goals in my career.
"It's everybody's thing to score a goal, that's what we're out here for. Some guys are better at it than others. I've just got to take care of some other areas first and foremost, then bang a couple home. Hopefully I can follow up with a couple more."
Colorado's David Aebischer made 26 saves, and Calgary's Jamie McLennan had 15.
Roy retired in May after 19 seasons, holding nearly every major goaltending record. In a 20-minute pregame ceremony, Colorado retired Roy's number, sending it to the rafters next to Ray Bourque's No. 77.
"It was good to win for Patrick for all he did for this organization," said Aebischer, Roy's successor. "I think the whole team worked for him tonight.
"Everything he accomplished was on the videotape, and it was just unbelievable."
Calgary outshot Colorado 12-4 in the final period, but Aebischer stood strong.
"David was large in the third period," Avalanche coach Tony Granato said. "He made some great saves. He's been solid from Day One, all season. He has been what we expected. He battled like crazy and gave us a chance to win."
Calgary coach Darryl Sutter also praised Aebischer.
"We were out-goaltended," Sutter said. "It was that simple. Aebischer made a save on (Jarome) Iginla in the third that would have gotten us back into a tie. We didn't make those saves."
Power-play goals by Milan Hejduk and Adam Foote gave Colorado a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Peter Forsberg passed from behind the goal to Hejduk, who beat McLennan from the inside edge of the right circle at 8:25.
The goal came after Iginla, Calgary's leading scorer, went off for 19 minutes in penalties. Iginla, who exchanged blows with Colorado's Cody McCormick, was assessed two minutes for instigating, two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.
After Colorado killed off a five-on-three disadvantage for 15 seconds, the Avalanche scored again on Foote's long shot from just inside the blue line at 14:39.
Calgary cut the deficit to 2-1 early in the second period on Gelinas' power-play goal at 3:36. Gelinas scored from left of the crease on a pass from Chuck Kobasew.
Colorado pushed the lead back to two goals when Cummins scored from the slot at 12:15 on a centering pass from Charlie Stephens. It was Stephens' first career NHL point.
Gelinas poked in a rebound at 32 seconds of the third period on another power play.
Notes
- Avalanche forward Teemu Selanne was scratched because of a knee injury.
- Calgary's starting goalie, Roman Turek, is on the injured list with a sprained right knee.
- In 16 career games against Colorado, McLennan is 2-11-1.
- Colorado's Joe Sakic has gone eight straight games without a goal.
- Forsberg has four goals and five assists in the past four games. He has 499 career assists.
- Avalanche defensemen have three goals and nine assists in the past four games.
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