- (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.

"Our line is starting to feel comfortable with each other. We have to keep building on our success," Ladd said. "We've been playing well at both ends of the ice but we have to keep working on it from game to game."

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.

"The momentum was on our side but when they scored the second goal we had our heads hanging," Guite said. "It was an up and down game. All of us have to keep our confidence up."

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.

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.

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.

Game Notes

The Blackhawks began a five-game homestand Monday and next host Calgary on Sunday...Colorado next hosts Minnesota Thursday....Chicago has yet to lose in regulation as the host this season, going 5-0-2...Quenneville ascended to the head coaching job when Denis Savard was fired on October 16, just four games into the season after a 1-2-1 start. He was previously a scout within Chicago's organization...The 'Hawks now have points in nine of last 10 games...Colorado defenseman Adam Foote assisted on Guite's goal, tying him with former Avalanche defender Sandis Ozolnish for the most assists in franchise history with 181...Chicago is the only NHL team to have five defensemen with two or more goals.



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