Sharp, Ladd pace Blackhawks to 5th home win

Patrick Sharp and Andrew Ladd each had two goals and an assist, leading the Chicago Blackhawks to a win over the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Monday night for their third straight victory.

Troy Brouwer and Cam Barker also scored for the Blackhawks, unbeaten in regulation at home (5-0-2). Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin made 24 saves.

Ben Guite and Milan Hejduk scored for the Avalanche, who lost their fourth straight. Peter Budaj stopped 31 shots.

Brouwer's goal was his first in 18 NHL games.

Colorado's Adam Foote assisted on Guite's goal, giving him 181 assists with the Avalanche and tying Sandis Ozolinsh's team record for defencemen.

Guite scored the lone goal of the first period with 3:38 left on a shot Khabibulin misplayed. Guite's 40-foot drive from right wing struck Khabibulin's stick, then rolled under him and over the goal line.

Ladd tied it 1-1 early in the second. From the low edge of the left circle, he ripped in a rebound of Dustin Byfuglien's shot from the slot.

Brouwer's goal gave Chicago a 2-1 lead with 2:19 left in the second. As Brouwer skated to the net, Sharp's shot glanced off the back of his leg. The puck rolled toward the goal and Brouwer stuffed it in.

Barker's power-play goal at 1:21 of the third made it 3-1. His screened drive from the slot slipped between Budaj's pads.

Just less than a minute later, Hejduk cut it to 3-2 on a shot from the right circle that beat Khabibulin just inside the left post.

Sharp made it 4-2 midway through the third when he scored from between the circles to complete a 3-on-2 break.

Ladd fired in his second goal from a sharp angle left of the net with just more than four minutes left to make it 5-2. Sharp's second goal, from the slot, completed the scoring with 2:34 left.

Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville faced Colorado for the first time since leaving the Avalanche following the 2007-08 season.

Quenneville coached Colorado for three seasons and compiled a 131-92-23 record there, but his contract was not renewed after the Avalanche were eliminated in the second round of the 2008 playoffs.

Quenneville replaced Denis Savard as Chicago's coach on Oct. 16, four games into this season.