CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The Colorado Avalanche left it late to edge an 11-goal thriller and end a three-game losing streak with a 6-5 victory over the Calgary Flames in a Northwest Division battle on Thursday.
Daniel Winnick pounced on a rebound with 2:20 left in the third period to settle the contest against the division-leading Flames, who were riding a three-game winning streak.
The Flames (6-4-0) jumped out to a 3-1 lead halfway through the game before Chris Stewart scored twice in a 29-second span late in the second period to complete a hat-trick and tie the scores.
The Flames, however, managed to regain the lead before the end of the second period before the Avalanche scored two more goals early in the third to take their first lead of the game.
"Our best players outside of Olli (Jokinen) were not very good," Flames coach Brent Sutter told reporters. "I saw a team that stuck with the program for 36 minutes."
Alex Tanguay then outfoxed Peter Budaj, keeping goal for Colorado in place of injured starter Craig Anderson, to make it 5-5 with less than six minutes left in the third period before Winnick stepped up to finish off the scoring.
Brandon Yip and T.J. Galiardi also scored for Colorado (5-4-1) while Niklas Hagman, Tim Jackman, Matt Stajan and Jokinen scored for Calgary.
The game was also the 1,000th in the NHL for Flames center Craig Conroy.
"I was hoping for better," Conroy said. "We would've liked a different outcome. It's too bad didn't work out the way we wanted. We came so close to at least getting a point. But it's just one game."
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by John O'Brien)
