Avalanche 4, Senators 3

OTTAWA - Ryan O'Reilly and the resurgent Colorado Avalanche pushed aside yet another Eastern Conference opponent.

O'Reilly scored the winning goal early in the third period, and Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots in Colorado's 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.

O'Reilly's goal gave the Avalanche a 4-1 lead en route to their second straight victory and fourth in five games. Rookie Matt Duchene, Kyle Quincey and Chris Durno also scored for Northwest Division-leading Colorado, which is 8-2-1 against the Eastern Conference and 4-0 against the Northeast Division.

Ryan Shannon scored twice for Ottawa, and Nick Foligno added a goal. Foligno returned to the lineup after missing seven games because of a knee injury.

"All our guys played well, you can't really fault too many guys," Senators coach Cory Clouston said. "We generated 30 shots, we gave up 20. There's not much more you can do."

Shannon has four goals in the last three games.

"All the bounces I missed at the beginning of the year are going my way now. I don't want to talk about it," Shannon said, fearful of jinxing himself.

O'Reilly made it 4-1 early in the third, but the Senators made it close when Foligno redirected a point shot, and Shannon scored his second from close range with a little less than six minutes to go.

Notes: The Senators scratched rookie defenceman Erik Karlsson for the third straight game ... Veteran blueliner John-Michael Liles was among the healthy scratches for the Avalanche ... Ottawa rings in the New Year with a matchup against John Tavares and the New York Islanders on Thursday night at Scotiabank Place (7 p.m., Rogers Sportsnet, Team 1200). Fewer than 4,000 tickets remain for the game.