Red Wings, Legace show up Avalanche again

DETROIT Manny Legace made 27 saves, and Pavel Datsyuk and Mathieu Schneider scored in the Detroit Red Wings' 2-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

The Western Conference-leading Red Wings are 9-1-1 in their last 11 home games.

The Northwest Division-leading Avalanche are 0-5-1 in their last six and have slipped behind San Jose for the third-best record in the West.

Legace, a career backup, has become Detroit's No. 1 goaltender because of injuries to Curtis Joseph and Dominik Hasek.

Rangers 3, Flyers 1

PHILADELPHIA Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist to help the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia and snap a season-high eight game losing streak.

Stephen Valiquette, making his first NHL start in almost four years, had 38 saves for the Rangers, who also got goals from Josh Green and Bobby Holik.

Tony Amonte scored the only goal for the Flyers, who missed a chance to increase their four-point lead in the Atlantic Division over idle New Jersey. The Devils have four games left, one more than Philadelphia.

Valiquette's last NHL start was April 6, 2000. His only other NHL action was 14 minutes of relief work with Edmonton early this season.

Blues 4, Blackhawks 3, OT

ST. LOUIS Bryce Salvador scored 1:50 into overtime, lifting St. Louis back into a playoff position in the Western Conference.

Keith Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and Doug Weight earned his 600th career assist for the Blues, who recovered from blowing a two-goal lead.

Scott Mellanby and Pavol Demitra also scored for the Blues, who have made the playoffs 24 straight seasons the longest current streak in professional sports. St. Louis has won an NHL-leading 11 games in overtime.

The Blackhawks got goals from Matt Keith, Tuomo Ruutu and Deron Quint.

Flames 3, Kings 2

CALGARY, Alberta Shean Donovan scored 1:06 into overtime to give Calgary a 3-2 victory over Los Angeles.

Chris Simon and Craig Conroy also scored for Calgary, and Jarome Iginla had a pair of assists giving him 501 NHL points.

Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves to snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 22-10-4. The Flames are in sixth place in the Western Conference and are trying to reach the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-96 season.

Sean Avery and Jeff Cowan scored for Los Angeles. Winless in their last seven (0-6-1), the Kings are 10th in the West and on the verge of being eliminated.

Lightning 4, Capitals 1

TAMPA, Fla. Vincent Lecavalier scored two goals to help Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay remain tied with Detroit for the overall NHL lead.

Lecavalier has 32 goals, one short of his career high set last season. Fredrik Modin and Brad Richards also scored, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 21 saves.

Matt Pettinger scored for Washington, 2-11-1 in its past 14 games.

Bruins 3, Canadiens 2, OT

BOSTON Sergei Samsonov's second goal of the game with 27.6 seconds left in overtime, completed Boston's rally against Montreal.

The Bruins trailed 2-0, including a penalty-shot goal by Montreal's Jason Ward just 26 seconds in.

Boston, which played its NHL-record 29th overtime game of the season, moved one point ahead of Philadelphia for second place in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers lost to the New York Rangers earlier Saturday.

The Canadiens clinched a playoff spot and moved one point behind New Jersey for sixth place in the East.

Senators 2, Maple Leafs 2

TORONTO Bryan McCabe scored the tying goal midway through the third period to help Toronto come back to tie Ottawa.

Toronto remained one point ahead of its biggest rival in the Northeast Division.

Rob Ray and Chris Phillips scored for the Senators, who are competing with Toronto for home-ice advantage in the playoffs.

Ottawa's Marian Hossa missed an open net in overtime, and Ottawa goalie Martin Prusek robbed Joe Nieuwendyk of a goal with a pad save moments later.

The Maple Leafs might have lost one of their top players to injury. Forward Owen Nolan had to be helped off the ice after injuring his right leg.

Hurricanes 3, Islanders 2

UNIONDALE, N.Y. Rookie defenseman Allan Rourke ended Rick DiPietro's shutout streak in the first period and Carolina stalled the New York Islanders' playoff drive.

Sean Hill and Jaroslav Svoboda also scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost only once in regulation in nine games (6-1-0-2). Kevin Weekes made 36 saves, including 16 in the third period, to beat his former teammates.

DiPietro posted 3-0 shutouts in his previous two starts, but had his streak snapped at 145 minutes, 40 seconds when Rourke scored his first NHL goal 8:42 in.

The Islanders, who got goals from Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish, had won four straight.

Sabres 2, Penguins 2

PITTSBURGH Konstantin Koltsov's goal late in the second period helped Pittsburgh rally for a tie that damaged Buffalo's slim playoff hopes.

Pittsburgh overcame a 2-0 deficit to extend its home unbeaten streak to seven (5-0-2).

Chris Drury and J.P. Dumont scored for the Sabres, who are five points behind the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Both Buffalo and the Islanders, who lost to Carolina on Saturday, have four games remaining.

Martin Biron made 37 saves for the Sabres, including five in overtime when the Penguins enjoyed a power play.

Thrashers 3, Panthers 0

SUNRISE, Fla. Kari Lehtonen stopped 30 shots to earn his first NHL shutout, and Atlanta set a franchise record for wins and points in a season by beating Florida.

Dany Heatley scored twice and Patrik Stefan added a goal for the Thrashers, who earned their 32nd victory and 76th point. Atlanta beat Florida for the fifth consecutive time, winning the season series 5-1.

Florida lost its fifth game in a row, the previous four by one goal.

Lehtonen, who made his NHL debut in Atlanta's 3-2 victory over Florida on March 19, is 3-0.

Ilya Kovalchuk's two assists moved him into a tie with Colorado's Joe Sakic for second place in the NHL scoring race with 85 points.

Blue Jackets 3, Predators 2, OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Tyler Wright scored 2:03 into overtime, and the Columbus beat Nashville for its fourth straight victory.

The Predators extended their home winless skid to five straight and missed an opportunity to move into sole possession of seventh place in the Western Conference. Nashville has 85 points and is tied with St. Louis and Edmonton.

Nikolai Zherdev forced overtime with his power-play goal at 14:05 of the third, and Rick Nash scored his NHL-leading 40th goal this season and had an assist in helping Columbus win for only the seventh time away from home.

Andreas Johansson had a goal and an assist for Nashville, and rookie Dan Hamhuis had a goal.

Canucks 3, Stars 2, OT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia Geoff Sanderson scored the tying goal midway through the third period Saturday night, and Brendan Morrison clinched a playoff spot for Vancouver 40 seconds into overtime of the Canucks' 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Morrison raced in on a two-on-two rush and snapped a 20-foot wrist shot through the legs of Ron Tugnutt, giving Vancouver its first win over Dallas this season.

Daniel Sedin also scored as fifth-place Vancouver moved within one point of the Stars in the race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Dan Cloutier made 22 saves for the Canucks, who posted consecutive wins for the first time in a month, and moved one point behind Colorado in the Northwest Division.

Pierre Turgeon and Brenden Morrow scored, and Tugnutt made 27 saves for the Stars, who lost for the first time in 70 games when leading after the second period.

Playing without suspended goaltender Marty Turco, three top defensemen and a couple of key forwards, the fourth-place Stars still moved within four points of San Jose for first place in the Pacific Division. Dallas will play in San Jose on Sunday.

Morrow and Sedin traded first-period goals before Turgeon put the Stars ahead 1:25 into the second after Shayne Corson muscled Henrik Sedin off the puck inside the Vancouver blue line. Corson fed a quick pass to Turgeon, alone in front of the net, and Turgeon beat Cloutier on the far side with a move to his backhand.

Even without top defenders Sergei Zubov, Teppo Numminen and Jon Klemm, the Stars managed to shut things down the rest of the second period. But they needed Tugnutt to be sharp when the Canucks came out flying early in the third.

Tugnutt played just his eighth game as Turco sat out the first of a four-game suspension for hitting Edmonton's Ryan Smyth in the mouth with his stick.

Tugnutt made a handful of spectacular saves before Brent Sopel spotted the speedy Sanderson behind the Dallas defense with a perfect pass out of his end. Sanderson raced in and beat Tugnutt with a wrist shot.

The Stars were 61-0-8 when leading after 40 minutes the longest active streak in the NHL and the third-longest ever. It looked like that run might continue as Tugnutt made sprawling stops on Henrik Sedin on a late power play, and Markus Naslund rolled a puck through the crease with 2:30 left.