Avalanche down Senators behind Sakic's four points

DENVER -- It could have gotten ugly. David Aebischer made sure that didn't happen.

Colorado's backup goalie withstood a first-period assault and the Avalanche steadied themselves with a four-goal rally in a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.

Joe Sakic had four assists and Adam Foote added three as the Avalanche posted their fifth straight home victory.

Colorado got second-period goals from Greg de Vries and rookie Radim Vrbata to break a 2-2 tie.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche, 4-0-1 in their last five games, climbed into third place in the Northwest Division with 30 points. Division-leading Edmonton has 36.

Aebischer, making his seventh start, had 32 saves. Ottawa's Patrick Lalime made 21.

Aebischer faced 19 shots in the first period -- the most by the Senators in a period this season -- but allowed only two goals.

"David played his best NHL game tonight," Avalanche coach Bob Hartley said. "It could easily have been 4-2 or 5-2 after one period, but he kept us in it when we didn't have our legs and weren't skating well."

Ottawa forward Daniel Alfredsson agreed.

"Aebischer made some great saves for them and kept them in the game, giving them a chance to come back. That was probably the difference," he said.

Aebischer said the two Ottawa goals "were great plays and there was not much that I could have done. I had more confidence when we tied the game. When we ended the second period up 4-2, we knew we could play with the lead."

Ottawa jumped ahead early. Shawn McEachern tipped in a long shot by Sami Salo at 1:28.

Moments after Aebischer made a stop on Radek Bonk on a breakaway, Bonk scored at 14:23. Magnus Arvedson passed from the corner to Bonk, who shot once and then punched in the rebound.

Colorado's Alex Tanguay beat a screened Lalime from outside the right circle on a power play at 16:14, and Chris Drury redirected Sakic's shot two seconds before the period ended.

"There's no doubt that was a heartbreaker," Senators coach Jacques Martin said. "You have to learn to handle those situations. We have to develop some resiliency."

Drury said Sakic "shot it pretty hard and I got the stick up and was able to redirect it in. It was nice to get it back to 2-2."

Aebischer made a sprawling save midway through the second period, and Colorado went ahead 3-2 on de Vries' goal from the right circle at 13:33.

Colorado got another power-play goal at 16:24. Vrbata, stationed just right of the goal, took a sharp pass from Foote and poked it past Lalime.

Vrbata has eight points in his seven NHL games.

Ottawa got off only five shots in the third period.

Notes: Colorado defenseman Rob Blake missed his third straight game because of a groin injury, but he is expected to join the team on a three-game road trip beginning Wednesday in Detroit. ... The Avalanche wore their third jersey for the third time this season. ... Ottawa was 5-1-1 in its previous seven meetings with Colorado. ... Despite the loss, the Senators are 10-3-2 in their last 15 games. ... The Senators played in Denver for the first time since Oct. 16, 1999.