New Jersey Devils 1, Colorado Avalanche 1 FINAL OT

DENVER (AP) -- Martin Brodeur made the saves when he had to in a tight-checking game.

Then again, so did Colorado's David Aebischer.

Aebischer stopped 27 shots, matching Brodeur almost save for save in Colorado's 1-1 tie with the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.

"He was there when we needed him," Colorado's Teemu Selanne said. "That's what good goaltenders do."

Brodeur has won three Stanley Cup titles and is considered the NHL's best big-game goalie now that Patrick Roy has retired.

Aebischer, Roy's replacement, showed he can come up with the big saves late in games, too.

He turned away 14 shots in the second period, then opened the third by blocking Scott Stevens' hard shot from the point. Aebischer then stuffed John Madden's one-timer from just outside the crease and made perhaps his best save late in overtime by squeezing Jeff Friesen's shot on a short breakaway.

Aebischer is 7-1-1 his last nine starts and leads the league with 13 wins.

"He is getting better and he's getting more confidence," Avalanche coach Tony Granato said. "He has done what we expected."

Of course, Brodeur was right there with him.

He opened the third period by stopping Jordan Krestanovich and Rob Blake on consecutive shots, then got his stick over just in time to block Travis Brigley's shot from just outside the crease midway through.

Brodeur also dived to poke the puck from Milan Hejduk a few seconds later, stopped a Colorado power play that started with 21/2 minutes left and blocked a tipped shot in overtime.

"It's important when you go on the road you give your team a chance to win, and that's what I did tonight," said Brodeur, who stopped 25 shots to improve to 10-1-3 his past 14 starts.

Hejduk opened the scoring with 4:29 left in the second period, one-timing a pass from Alex Tanguay over a sprawled Brodeur for his 14th of the season.

Andrei Nikolishin set up the goal by squeezing a pass between two defenders near the blue line.

New Jersey needed just 1:13 to answer on a pinball shot by Erik Rasmussen.

Rasmussen wound up with the puck between the circles after a shot by Paul Martin bounced around through traffic. Aebischer stretched to block Rasmussen's shot with the inside of his right leg, but it caromed back off his left leg and trickled into the net.

It was Rasmussen's first point of the season and his first goal since last Feb. 5.

"It's not a bad time," Rasmussen said. "The biggest thing was contributing to the team."

Neither team had many scoring chances in a tight-checking first period -- 13 combined shots -- but New Jersey picked up the pace in the second. So did Aebischer.

He opened by gloving Stevens' hard shot from the left circle, then turned away five more to kill off Martin Skoula's four-minute high-sticking penalty. Aebischer followed by stopping Turner Stevenson from the left faceoff dot, and made a stick save on Brian Gionta on a short breakaway.

"Both goaltenders were very good," Devils coach Pat Burns said. "We had some excellent scoring chances and Aebischer make some good saves around the net."

Blake nearly beat Brodeur from the blue line in the first minute of the second period, but Colorado didn't have another shot until Brodeur kicked away Nikolishin's shot with 61/2 minutes left.