Avs finish off Sharks

Colorado
Avalanche

"It was a breakaway, 3-on-3, I was the middle man," Hejduk said. "I just went to the net and waited for it. It's hard to believe it could happen twice, but the puck was right on my stick."

Sharks had their chances in overtime hitting the goalpost twice and also failed to score in a four-minute power-play.

"An overtime period might be defensive for a while but eventually it opens up," Sakic said. "Everybody was starting to get tired so we needed (Hejduk's) fresh legs. We know that we have to be at our best versus Detroit. I think this series will help us do that."

After a scoreless first period Colorado's Theo Fleury, who was obtained from Calgary in February, gave the Avs 1-0 lead.

"I haven't been out of the first round in 10 years so this is incredible," said Fleury. "We'll savor this one for a while and get ready for Detroit. It kind of reminds me of the Edmonton-Calgary series that I used to be part of."

Bill Houlder tied it for the Sharks at the end of the second period. In the third teams traded goals by Sandis Ozolinsh and Jeff Friesen setting the stage for overtime.

"It was a crashing series. Both teams put on a lot of ice bags after the games," Houlder said. "We made lots of improvements from last year but our slow start probably cost us home-ice advantage for the first round. We played good defensive hockey and got some good goals, but we just didn't finish."