Sakic’s Goal in Third Overtime Beats Blackhawks for Colorado

CHICAGO —  Joe Sakic scored 4:33 into the third overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, who had not lost in three overtime games in the playoffs.

In the longest game in Avalanche history, Colorado sent 57 shots at Chicago goalie Ed Balfour, who had been 6-0 in the playoffs.

The last came when Alexei Gusarov threaded a pass to Sakic at the left side of the net. Sakic, who leads all scorers in the playoffs with 12 goals, waited briefly with the puck before sending it low to Belfour’s stick side.

Sakic had also scored the first goal for Colorado, which evened the best-of-seven series, 2-2.

It was the second consecutive overtime game between the teams, the third of the series and Chicago’s fourth in its last five games. The Blackhawks had finished their first-round sweep of Calgary with a triple-overtime victory.

Patrick Roy made 32 saves for the Avalanche, who had never played more than one overtime in 16 years as the Quebec Nordiques before moving to Colorado for this season.