CALGARY, Alberta -- Derek Morris had mixed feelings about scoring in overtime against his former Calgary Flames teammates.
The Colorado defenseman took a pass from Alex Tanguay and wristed a shot past Miikka Kiprusoff at 2:24 of the extra period to give the Avalanche a thrilling 6-5 victory Thursday night.
"I wish I didn't have to do it, but it felt good," Morris said. "Obviously, I have no hard feelings to my (former) teammates."
The Flames traded Morris to Colorado before last season along with Dean McAmmond and Jeff Shantz for Chris Drury and Stephane Yelle.
Morris had a career-high 11 goals and 37 assists with the Avalanche last season, and has three goals and eight assists in 22 games this season.
"It was good to see both teams obviously have a good hard-fought game," he said.
Adam Foote, Milan Hejduk, Joe Sakic, Teemu Selanne and Travis Brigley also scored for the Avalanche, who rallied from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits before blowing leads of 4-3 and 5-4.
Andrew Ference scored at 11:53 of the third to tie it 5-5 and force overtime. Brigley gave Colorado a 5-4 lead at 5:55.
Oleg Saprykin had two goals, and Shean Donovan and Jordan Leopold also scored for the Flames, who had won three straight.
"We were able to fight back from being a goal down in the third period," Donovan said. "To fight back and get a point out of it, that's something to look at."
David Aebischer made 27 saves for the Avalanche, and Kiprusoff stopped 19 shots for the Flames.
Trailing 4-3 after two periods, Saprykin tied it for Calgary 1:02 into the third period before Brigley and Ference traded goals.
Sakic scored at 13:09 and Selanne added a goal at 17:10 as Colorado turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
Leopold gave Calgary a 3-2 lead at 7:45 of the second.
"We weren't expecting a game like that, that's for sure," Sakic said. "Every time somebody got a chance, the puck seemed to go in. It was just one of those games where we're just glad we won it."
With scoring down in the NHL, Sakic said it was nice to be involved in a wide-open game.
"I'm sure the goalies didn't like it, but the offensive players, we don't mind it," he said.
Tanguay had three assists to take over the NHL scoring lead with 31 points.
Foote opened the scoring just 1:02 in the game but Donovan tied it at 5:52 with a shorthanded goal. Saprykin put the Flames up at 9:39 before Hejduk made it 2-2 at 12:19.
The Flames were 1-for-7 with the man advantage, while the Avalanche converted 1-of-4 power-play opportunities.
Notes
- Colorado D Karlis Skrastins played his 291st consecutive game, the longest active streak in the NHL.
- Colorado LW Jordan Krestanovich, recalled from Hershey of the AHL on Nov. 23, returned to the Pengrowth Saddledome where he played for Calgary of the Western Hockey League.
- The Avalanche had seven players out of the lineup due to injuries including C Peter Forsberg (abdomen) and LW Paul Kariya (wrist).
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2003, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
