(My Sportsbook) - The Vancouver Canucks and the rest of the Northwest Division have officially been put on notice. The Colorado Avalanche are alive and well and have no intention of giving up their division title without a fight.

Colorado, which is shooting for its NHL-record ninth straight division championship, is currently riding a five-game winning streak, and after a brutal start, has clawed its way up to second-place in the Northwest (64 points), just six points behind the first-place Canucks, who they will face on Thursday in Vancouver.

The Avs latest win came on Sunday when Peter Forsberg notched his second hat trick of the season, as Colorado extended their season-high unbeaten streak to nine games with a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames at the Pepsi Center.

"We're riding a good streak right now, and we've got to keep it rolling," said Forsberg, who has points in 12 of his last 14 games and has moved into a tie for fourth place among NHL scorers with 62 points. . David Aebischer spelled the red-hot Patrick Roy between the pipes for Colorado and made 38 saves to help the Avalanche run their mark to 7-0-2 in their last nine.

The streak has vaulted Colorado into fifth place in the Western Conference standings -- just one point behind Detroit. Jeff Shantz also scored for Colorado, while Alex Tanguay and Greg de Vries each posted two assists.

The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead on a brilliant individual effort by Forsberg at 7:51 of the first period. He worked the puck free behind the net, skated out to the blue line at the right point, made a move around a Calgary defender to get to the slot and snapped a hard wrist shot into the upper right corner.

"We came out good in the first period," Forsberg said. "We got an early goal, and we got a couple more and kept the lead."

Forsberg added his second goal of the game and 19th of the season at 7:38 of the second to make it 2-0. He cut through the low slot in front of the net, took a pass from Tanguay and backhanded a shot past Roman Turek.

Shantz extended Colorado's lead just 4:14 later. He carried the puck around the back of the net, worked his way in front and toward the right circle before sending a pass into the crease. The puck deflected off the skate of a Calgary defender and into the net to give Shantz his third goal.

Forsberg beat Turek glove-side on a breakaway with 1:59 remaining in the second period to complete his sixth career hat trick and gave Colorado a comfortable 4-0 advantage.

"We couldn't match up against Forsberg, and he took advantage of it," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "You try to figure out when he's coming. You hope your best players can keep up with him. We couldn't do it."

WHAT'S AHEAD

The Avs will host the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday before Thursday's Northwest Division clash with the Canucks.