NHL: Colorado 5, Carolina 4

DENVER, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Milan Hejduk put Colorado in front for good midway through the second period Friday and the Avalanche held on for an ill-tempered 5-4 victory over Carolina.

The Avalanche produced four unanswered goals to rally from a two-goal deficit and won for the seventh time in 10 games this season. Carolina has lost five in a row.

The contest was marred by a violent hit by Carolina's Tuomo Ruutu on forward Darcy Tucker early in the second period.

Tucker did not immediately respond when trainers rushed onto the ice, but eventually showed movement and gave a thumbs-up sign to the crowd as he was carried from the rink on a stretcher.

Ruutu was given a game misconduct penalty. Carolina's Eric Staal also was issued a game misconduct penalty late in the contest after previously receiving high-sticking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

After Carolina took a 2-0 lead in the first 6 minutes, Colorado got goals from Ryan O'Reilly, Paul Stastny, Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski. O'Reilly and Stastny scored 31 seconds apart late in the first period. Hejduk and Wolski scored 40 seconds apart in the second.

Craig Anderson made 32 saves to get the win. Colorado equaled its largest goal total of the season.