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Coyotes roster

"It is a great way to start your career," Denis said. "There's a lot of learning. I still want to always improve myself, my game, every day. Backing up one of the best, if not the greatest in the game, I think I can't really object."

Sakic scored 13 seconds into the first period Avalanche extended their home unbeaten streak to nine games. It was the third straight game in which the Avalanche scored in the opening minute.

"We've been scoring on the first shift, it's so important," said center Peter Forsberg. "They really beat us bad last time and tonight we showed them right off the bat that we were ready."

Rookie Robert Esche stopped 28 shots in his second straight start for Phoenix, which had a six-game unbeaten streak against Colorado stopped.

"They dominated the first. We could not be playing any worse," Phoenix right wing Rick Tocchet said. "Then they kept the third man high in the second and third periods. Once they got that two-goal lead, there's a couple of times Forsberg could have skated into the zone but chipped the puck in. They played very sound defense."