"As the Avalanche makes the early-season rounds of NHL cities, and especially when it plays in Canada, it has been greeted with raised eyebrows, incredulity and — increasingly — respectful recognition that this fast start might not be one of those rather commonplace NHL October aberrations.

The collective reaction seems to be: Whoa, these guys really are good.

Colorado improved to a staggering 9-1-2 on Tuesday night with a workmanlike 3-0 victory over Ed-monton at Rexall Place, with Craig Anderson making 25 saves to get his second shutout of the season as the Oilers went 0-for-3 on the power play.

Milan Hejduk's goal only 25 seconds into the game would have been enough, but Wojtek Wolski added the final two scores in the third period — his second when he was prevented from getting off a shot from behind and was thus was awarded a goal with 1:47 remaining.

Yes, the team that finished last in the Western Conference last season has only one regulation loss in its first 12 games . . . and hasn't even worn vertically striped socks once.

"That may have been our best 60 minutes of the season, from start to finish," said Colorado coach Joe Sacco, whose team plays tonight at Calgary. "We played very well. We did a good job of managing the puck through the neutral zone and were able to sustain a lot of pressure in the offensive zone."

Anderson made four saves when Colorado was short-handed, and Edmonton didn't get off a shot during a 16-second stretch with a two-man advantage in the second period.

"We took the play to them," Anderson said. "We controlled the puck a lot and got it back in their zone and played offense instead of being back on our heels."

Nikolai Khabibulin had 31 saves for the Oilers, and if he hadn't played well, this one could have been a lot worse. That kind of stipulation about the losing goaltender usually goes without saying, but the Avalanche wasn't even supposed to be often facing the challenge of keeping on the pressure once it took leads.

Hejduk, who during the exhibition season signed a contract extension with a no-trade clause that takes him through the 2010-11 season, got his fifth goal of the season in the opening minute. Afterward, he finally did publicly acknowledge that, yes, even he is a little bit surprised.

"I would be lying if I said no," he said. "But it's a pleasant surprise that we are collecting lots of points. Before the season, we were kind of thinking that it would be nice to have a good start, but we got a better start than we asked for."

Wolski, who has been in and out of Sacco's doghouse in the first four weeks, had a strong all-around game, even before his awarded empty-netter."