Yip nets 2 as Avs even up division

Avalanche beat Blues 5-2 with second-period flurry at home

by The Associated Press

Article Last Updated; Tuesday, February 09, 2010 12:00AM

Avalanche crumblings

Avalanche W David Koci suffered a hand injury in his fight with Blues W D.J. King and did not return. ... Colorado C Ryan O’Reilly (bruised foot) missed his first game of the season.

DENVER - Brandon Yip scored two goals, Chris Stewart had a goal and two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Monday night.

Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, T.J. Galiardi also scored, and Craig Anderson made 32 saves for the Avalanche. Colorado moved into a first-place tie with idle Vancouver in the Northwest Division.

Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson scored for the Blues, who have lost three in a row.

The Avalanche blew it open in the first 6 minutes, 34 seconds of the second period. With the game tied at 2, Colorado got goals from Stewart, Stastny and Yip 4:09 apart to take a 5-2 lead and chase Chris Mason, who allowed five goals on 15 shots.

Stewart's three points tied a career high, and his 18 goals tie him for the team lead with rookie Matt Duchene.

It was Yip's third two-goal game this season and gives him 11 goals in 22 games.

Anderson briefly was down on the ice in the second period after taking a puck in the upper chest on a shot by Andy McDonald. A trainer attended to him in the crease, but Anderson stayed in the game.

The Blues thought they had cut the lead to 5-3 when T.J. Oshie tipped in a rebound midway through the second period, but the goal was disallowed on a hooking penalty called on Oshie.

The hockey game provided early excitement.

Just 2:21 in, St. Louis forward D.J. King dropped the gloves against David Koci, and the fight seemed to provide some spark. Brewer made it 1-0 with a wrist shot at 3:34 of the first, but 28 seconds later Galiardi tied it with a point-blank shot that beat Mason over his left shoulder.

St. Louis took a 2-1 lead when Johnson beat Anderson with a shot to the short side with 12:01 left in the first. Alex Steen's forecheck created a turnover behind the Avalanche goal, then Steen found Johnson at the point.

Yip tied it on the power play with 3:18 left in the first period.