DENVER, 28 October 2003 — Chris Drury scored the game-winner against his former team with 2:23 left in the third period to guide the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.

Netminder Martin Biron made 32 saves for the Sabres, who were out-shot 33-21 but still improved to 5-4-0-0.

Ales Kotalik opened the scoring for the Sabres on a power play two minutes into the second period but the Avalanche tied it on a power play at 14:58 of the middle frame.

Drury’s winner came on a wrist shot that beat Phil Sauve to put the Sabres over the .500 mark for the first time this season.

JP Dumont converted into an empty net in the last minute to clinch the win for Buffalo. Dumont also assisted on Drury’s goal.

Colorado slipped to 4-4-0-0.

Mighty Ducks 1 Blackhawks 1

In Anaheim, Joffrey Lupul scored a power-play goal with more than seven minutes left in regulation to give the Mighty Ducks a 1-1 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Martin Gerber made 25 saves for the Ducks, who have only two wins from their first nine games this season. Kyle Calder had the lone Chicago tally while Michael Leighton made 31 stops.

Canucks 3 Coyotes 3

In Vancouver, Krystofer Kolanos netted with 1:14 left in regulation to hand the Phoenix Coyotes a 3-3 tie with the Canucks.

Shane Doan and Radoslav Suchy recorded the other goals for Phoenix (3-3-2-2) while Ladislav Nagy added two assists.

Markus Naslund had a goal and one assist for Vancouver (4-2-2-0). Trevor Linden and Ed Jovanovski also tallied.

Dupuis Signs With Wild to End Holdout

Pascal Dupuis ended his holdout by signing a three-year contract with the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. The restricted free agent reported back to the team Saturday and the Wild made his signing official Sunday. No financial terms were announced.

Minnesota has two wins in its first eight games and has struggled offensively without Dupuis and fellow holdout Marian Gaborik.

Dupuis had 20 goals and 28 assists for 48 points last season with the Wild, who advanced to the Western Conference final before losing to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The 24-year-old has 76 points in 160 NHL games over three seasons.

Gaborik led the Wild last season with 30 goals and 65 points and remains unsigned.