Colorado Avalanche Final Score: Ducks Blank Avs, 3-0

Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Corey Perry notched his second career hat trick, supplying all the offense in Anaheim's 3-0 victory over Colorado at Pepsi Center.

Curtis McElhinney, starting between the pipes in place of Jonas Hiller, turned away 25 shots for the Ducks, who have won five of their last seven games.

Hiller is suffering from fatigue and light-headedness and was held out of Saturday's contest as a precaution.

Peter Budaj made 26 saves for the Avalanche, who have dropped three straight games and five of six overall.

Perry slammed home his own rebound at the side of the net on a power play to put Anaheim on the board at 13:51 of the first period.

The former first-round pick struck again 1:53 into the third period. Perry gathered the puck along the right-wing boards, dodged Colorado forward T.J. Galiardi and fired a backhander from the slot earmarked for the top left corner.

"I hold myself responsible for that [goal]," Galiardi said. "I went for the stick check on one of the best stickhandlers in the league. You can't do that. He'll beat you every time."

Perry completed the trifecta with an empty-net tally inside the final minute.

The Ducks have won five straight in Denver and eight of the last nine meetings overall...Perry has 28 goals this season...McElhinney notched his second career shutout...Anaheim opened a four-game road trip which also takes it to Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton...Colorado was 0-for-3 on the power play.

Ducks Vs. Avalanche: Colorado Looks For Home Win Before Road Trip

The Colorado Avalanche have not started off the second half of the season the way they would have liked. First, it was snowstorm that affected the St. Louis area (and nearly 30 states all together), forcing the cancellation of their game against the Blues on Tuesday. Then it was a 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. They hope to change things on Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks

At the moment, the Avalanche are 25-20-6 with 56 points, three points out from a playoff spot. Since winning two straight contests on Jan. 14 and 18, the Avalanche have dropped four of their last five games. A porous defense and poor goaltending have contributed greatly.

The Ducks, meanwhile, hold the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoffs with 60 points. They started the second half of their season with a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks, who are currently one spot ahead of them in the standings.

This is the first meeting of the season between the two and they will play three more over the next two months.

The pucks drops at 1:00 p.m. MT.