Canucks 4, Avalanche 2
Alexandre Burrows and Henrik Sedin scored just over two minutes apart midway through the third period as the Vancouver Canucks clinched the Northwest Division with a 4-2 home triumph over the reeling Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
Maxim Lapierre also tallied and Daniel Sedin notched a pair of assists for Vancouver (47-16-9), which has won seven in a row overall and nine of its last 11 meetings (9-0-2) with Colorado.
Cory Schneider turned aside 27 shots to record his fifth straight win and improve to 14-3-2 on the season.
After defenseman Erik Johnson and Matt Duchene tallied 87 seconds apart in the first period to give the Avalanche a quick 2-0 lead, Lapierre put the Canucks on the board after converting on the doorstep following a brilliant feed by Chris Higgins.
Burrows then leveled the contest at 9:32 of the third period after cleaning up a rebound from defenseman Dan Hamhuis. Henrik Sedin netted the eventual winner just 2:18 later and provided some insurance with an empty-net goal with 1:14 remaining in the session.
Brian Elliott finished with 36 saves for Colorado (26-35-8), which has dropped nine in a row and 19 of its last 20 (1-17-2). The Avalanche have been outscored 83-34 during their latter stretch.