by Terry Frei The Denver Post , The Denver Post

On Friday night at the Pepsi Center, the Avalanche kept its 2009-10 home record perfect through six games, getting two goals from rookie center Ryan O'Reilly and one from David Jones on the way to recovering from a two-goal first-period deficit and taking a 4-3 shootout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

The shootout lasted eight rounds, ending when Colorado's Chris Stewart beat Chicago goalie Antti Niemi before Craig Anderson made the game-ending save on the Blackhawks' Dustin Byfuglien. Both goalies were strong in the shootout, which Colorado won 2-1, and it was the second marathon tiebreaker between the two teams in four weeks. The Blackhawks needed a franchise- record nine rounds to claim a 4-3 shootout victory over the Avs on Oct. 10 in Chicago.

"Eight rounds, you start to notice a little weakness in the goalie," said Stewart. "I just came off the wing and did the ol' (Milan) Hejduk move, come in like you're going to deke and go with the quick shot, blocker side. I've seen him do it a million times in practice, games and shootouts, so I just tried to take a page out of his book."

It was the fourth time this season Colorado won after allowing the first two goals of the game. Previously, Colorado did it against Detroit, Carolina and Calgary. The win made the Western Conference- leading Avalanche 12-3-2 for the season.

Anderson had 29 saves in the 65 minutes of what he would call real Hockey, then was beaten only by the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane in the first round of the shootout.

"In the shootout, if they don't score, they don't win. That's kind of my mentality," said Anderson, a Chicago-area native.

Anderson said shootouts "take the team game right out of it. It puts individuals in charge of a team game. We'll take the 'W,' but in the playoffs, they don't have shootouts for a reason."

The key stretch of the game came when, trailing 2-1, the Avalanche effectively - but not technically - got two short-handed goals during Adam Foote's roughing minor early in the second period. Jones went virtually end-to-end after taking a pass from Scott Hannan and beat Niemi to tie it 2-2, and then O'Reilly corralled the puck after Jones knocked it out of the zone and scored on his own rebound the instant the door was opening for Foote.

"They got caught in a bad change there, and Jonesy got the puck out, and I looked and there was no defense there," said the 18-year-old O'Reilly, who has four goals this season. "I told myself I had a chance for a breakaway here and took the shot."

This is all pretty heady stuff for a second-round draft choice who beat long odds to stick with the Avalanche this season. "It's just great to contribute like this," O'Reilly said. "Who'd have thought?"

Andrew Ladd's goal at 16:40 of the second pulled Chicago into a 3-3 tie, and that held up through the third period and overtime.

Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com

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