Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Patrick Sharp and Andrew Ladd scored two goals apiece to send the Chicago Blackhawks past the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 at the United Center.
Troy Brouwer and Cameron Barker had the other goals, while Sharp and Ladd both added helpers to register three-point nights for Chicago, which notched its third straight victory.
Nikolai Khabibulin made 24 saves to give head coach Joel Quenneville a win against his old team. Quenneville spent the previous three seasons with the Avalanche, going 131-92-23 over that span.
Milan Hejduk and Ben Guite netted goals for the Avalanche, who have dropped four straight. Peter Budaj stopped 31-of-37 shots in taking the loss.
The 'Hawks tied the game on a marker from Ladd just under four minutes into the middle stanza, and then Brouwer registered his first NHL goal with 2:19 left in the period for a 2-1 lead.
Chicago gained the offensive zone and Sharp had a wrister from just above the left circle deflect off a defender on its way in, and Brouwer corralled the disc in close and buried it.
A power-play marker just 1:21 into the third made it a 3-1 game. Brian Campbell sent a pass over to Barker in the high slot for a one-timer that lit the lamp.
Sports
Hejduk took a pass from Ryan Smyth in the neutral zone and broke in on net, beating Khabibulin with a slap shot to the stick side less than a minute later.
The Avalanche kept the pressure on, down by one, but that resulted in an odd- man rush just about halfway through the period. Ladd brought it up the right side and sent a pass to the left wing for Jonathan Toews, and he dropped it back into the slot for Sharp, who rifled a shot into the top right corner of the net for the two-goal lead.
Ladd's second goal came from the left circle and beat Budaj over the left shoulder and Sharp's second marker came on a one-timer from the slot to put the game away with 2:34 left in the game.
Colorado notched the game's first and only goal of the opening period. Guite skated the puck into the zone along the right boards and let fly a seemingly harmless wrister on net, but Khabibulin had the puck deflect off his own stick and into the net.
