Avalanche Gets Its First Victory

Marek Svatos scored the second of his two goals with 5:44 remaining to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, Sunday night.

The Avalanche had to wait a few minutes to see if Svatos’ late goal stood up. The referees reviewed the play to see if Svatos had kicked it in, but replays confirmed it went off his stick.

It’s the first win of the season for Colorado, which dropped its first two games in overtime. It was the Canucks’ first loss after two road wins.

Vancouver pulled goalie Roberto Luongo with 1:39 left -- and with the Canucks on a power play -- but couldn’t score.

The Avalanche thought they had the go-ahead goal by Ian Laperriere with 9.2 seconds left in the second, but the referees ruled the whistle had blown for a penalty before the goal.