DENVER, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Milan Hejduk ended a six-game goalless drought and David Aebischer had 27 saves in his second straight start as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 Thursday night.
Hejduk snapped a scoreless tie 9:06 into the contest when he got behind Vancouver center Brendan Morrison and tipped Alex Tanguay's pass by goaltender Dan Cloutier for his third goal of the season and first since October 11.
Eric Messier doubled Colorado's lead 1:48 into the second period. Messier gave the puck to Stephane Yelle and went toward the net, where he re-directed Yelle's shot inside the left post for his first goal since Jan. 26 of last season.
Dan Hinote's first goal of the season gave Colorado a three-goal lead and chased Cloutier just under four minutes into the session. Hinote was outside the crease and redirected Rob Blake's point shot past Cloutier for his first marker since March 24.
Aebischer stopped all of Vancouver's 18 shots over the first 40 minutes but had his bid for a shutout snapped by Morrison with 4:43 remaining. Avalanche starting goalie Patrick Roy did not dress due to a hip injury.
Colorado has won two of three meetings from Vancouver after sweeping the Canucks in the Western Conference quarterfinals last season. This was the first meeting between the teams since Vancouver posted a 4-0 home win on October 13.
In that game, Vancouver left wing Todd Bertuzzi was ejected and received a 10-game suspension for being the third man in a scuffle between teammate Ed Jovanovski and Scott Parker.
Thursday's only incident came late in the second period, when Parker and Brashear both received fighting majors for a scuffle.