While the Avalanche might consider posting a "help wanted" sign outside the Pepsi Center - the club still doesn't control its playoff destiny - it is contributing to its own cause in a big way.

In a game it absolutely, positively had to win Wednesday night, the Avalanche poured 42 shots at Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Miikka Kiprusoff and skated to a 3-2 victory against the Calgary Flames to keep its long-shot postseason chances alive.

"Huge win," captain Joe Sakic said. "We still have work to do, but we're still in it. We gave ourselves hope."

The Avalanche, on a 6-0-1 roll, cut the Flames' lead to eight points in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 12 games remaining.

Sakic collected a goal and an assist, rookie Paul Stastny broke a 2-2 tie 50 seconds into the third period to extend his points-scoring streak to 19 games and the Avalanche held the Flames without a shot on goal while killing off a slashing penalty to Ken Klee that began with 2:19 to play in regulation.

"We outplayed them and we deserved to win," said goalie Peter Budaj, who faced 19 shots, just five each in the second and third periods. "It's a credit to the guys because I didn't have many shots against."

The same couldn't be said of Kiprusoff, who finished with 39 saves but gave up the winning goal on a shot he normally would stop in his sleep.

Brett McLean outfought Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf for the puck behind the Calgary net and got it to Stastny at the bottom of the left faceoff circle for a soft shot that trickled behind Kiprusoff.

"He got the puck loose and he kicked it to me," Stastny said of McLean. "I kind of shot if off my toes. It was a weird shot (because the puck) was rolling a little bit. I think it handcuffed Kiprusoff. He probably thought it was going to go harder than it was and it just squeaked in."

Unlike earlier games this season, when it either went into a shell after taking a third-period lead and/or made a defensive blunder that resulted in an opponent's goal, the Avalanche played smart and made the margin hold up.

"Especially in the third period, we are bearing down," Budaj said. "Before that, in the middle of the season or at the beginning, we'd be up by two goals going to the third and we'd lose the lead and lose the game.

"Those are the points that we have to chase right now."

Despite the uphill fight, the Avalanche is facing in its quest for a playoff position, team members are playing with more confidence than at any point in the season.

"Hopefully, we learned some valuable lessons along the way," coach Joel Quenneville said.

"Right now, the guys have some enthusiasm, have got some momentum going, and they feel good about themselves."

The Avalanche got off to a fast start when Sakic scored 1:15 into the game for his 602nd career goal, moving him past Jari Kurri into sole possession of 16th place on the all-time list.

"We knew what was at stake, and we came out playing like our playoff lives were riding on it," Quenneville said.

But the Flames struck for two power-play goals in the period in a span of 2:37 to take the lead.

Jarome Iginla deflected Roman Hamrlik's slap shot behind Budaj at 14:45 with 1 second left on Wojtek Wolski's interference penalty.

Former Avalanche center Stephane Yelle put the Flames ahead at 17:22 with 2 seconds remaining on a hooking penalty to Brett Clark.

It was a reversal of recent form for the Avalanche penalty killers, who thwarted 20 of 21 disadvantages in the previous six games.

The Avalanche tied the score at 16:20 of the third period when Andrew Brunette made a backhanded pass to Milan Hejduk streaking down the left side on a power play for a shot into a half-open net.

Hejduk has scored a goal in five consecutive games and stretched his point-scoring streak to nine games.

ETC.: Stastny has nine goals and 18 assists in his 19-game streak, tying him with his father, Peter Stastny, for the second-longest streak in franchise history. Mats Sundin had a 30-game streak for Quebec in 1992. . . . The Avalanche recognized eight U.S. World War II veterans during the game. The veterans were from the 10th Mountain Division, originally based at Camp Hale outside Leadville.

Calgary......2	0	0	-	2
Colorado......1	1	1	-	3

First period - 1, Col, Sakic 28 (Wolski, Brunette), 1:15. 2, Cal, Iginla 34 (Hamrlik, Langkow), 14:45 (pp). 3, Cal, Yelle 8 (Tanguay, Hamrlik), 17:22 (pp). Penalties - Wolski, Col, (interference), 12:46; Clark, Col, (hooking), 15:24.

Second period - 4, Col, Hejduk 29 (Brunette, Sakic), 16:20 (pp). Penalties - Lombardi, Cal (hooking), 8:03; Regehr, Cal (hooking), 14:34.

Third period - 5, Col, Stastny 23 (McLean), :50. Penalties - Langkow, Cal (delay of game), 13:00; Klee, Col, (slashing), 17:41.

Shots - Cal 9-5-5 - 19. Col 11-18-13 - 42. Power plays - Cal 2 of 3; Col 1 of 3. Goalies - Cal, Kiprusoff 34-20-9 (42 shots-39 saves). Col, Budaj 24-15-5 (19-17). A - 17,426 (18,007). T - 2:25. Referees - Dennis LaRue, Rob Martell. Linesmen - Don Henderson, Brian Mach.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com

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