It's been a memorable few weeks for the Colorado Avalanche, and just as forgettable a span for the Edmonton Oilers.

When the Avs beat the Oilers 5-1 Wednesday night, it moved Colorado within four points of idle Calgary for the final Western Conference playoff berth. About a month ago, the Avs seemed to be plummeting out of contention.

Which is exactly where Edmonton is. While Colorado has won nine of its last 10 games, the Oilers have lost 12 straight. Their playoff hopes have disappeared less than a year after going to the Stanley Cup finals and losing Game 7 to Carolina.

Ian Laperriere had two goals, Joe Sakic, John-Michael Liles and Brett Clark also scored for Colorado, which has won four in a row.

"We have a lot of momentum right now and a lot of confidence," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said.

And the Oilers? They haven't won in 11 games since trading forward Ryan Smyth to the New York Islanders, and are nearing the team-record 14 game winless streak from the 1993-94 season.

"The best indicator of the things to come was turning over the puck three times in the first 13 seconds of the game," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "When you are at a size and skill disadvantage you want to make sure you are playing a smart game and we started off not playing that way."

Jan Bulis and Tommi Santala scored in the first period and Roberto Luongo made 20 saves. Luongo's 43rd win moved him ahead New Jersey's Martin Brodeur atop the NHL.

At New York, the Rangers used their fists and sticks to beat the Flyers, whose Todd Fedoruk got knocked out by Colton Orr's punch.Orr flattened Fedoruk with a hard punch 21 seconds into the game in response to Philadelphia's rough play in the last meeting on Feb. 17. Fedoruk was removed from the ice on a stretcher and taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and kept overnight.

Antti Miettinen and Krys Barch scored the tying and go-ahead goals 79 seconds apart early in the third period and visiting Dallas Stars completed an eight-game season sweep of Los Angeles.

Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek had two goals each, and Joe Thornton added three assists as visiting San Jose won its fifth game in the last six.Thornton has 99 points this season (20 goals, 79 assists), second behind Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh (108 points) in the NHL scoring race.

Daniel Briere and Derek Roy scored power-play goals, sparking the Sabres' sputtering special teams.