Messier Gets 1,000th Assist

Mark Messier became the sixth NHL player to reach the 1,000-assist plateau as the Vancouver Canucks played to a 2-2 with the Florida Panthers on Saturday night at Vancouver.

Messier reached the milestone when he helped set up Alex Mogilny’s seventh goal of the season late in the second period to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead.

Florida’s Radek Dvorak scored 11:25 into the third period to send the game into overtime.

Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 1--Stu Barnes prides himself on setting up linemates Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis, but in the game at Pittsburgh he did the scoring for a change with three goals.

Barnes scored three consecutive goals in the second period for his first hat trick in more than six years.

Only two hats sailed onto the ice after Barnes’ third goal.

“I think it was probably because people couldn’t believe it was me,” Barnes said.

Barnes’ only other hat trick came on Nov. 11, 1991 when he was a rookie with the Winnipeg Jets playing against the Kings. He said it came against Kelly Hrudey and was also a natural hat trick, meaning he scored three consecutive goals.

Ottawa 3, Colorado 3--Valeri Kamensky and Rene Corbet scored 17 seconds apart in the third period at Denver to deny the Senators their first road victory ever against the Avalanche.

The second of two goals by Corbet with 17:05 left in regulation countered the natural hat trick by Alexei Yashin, whose second and third goals came 36 seconds apart in the third period.

Chicago 4, Toronto 3--Mats Sundin had a chance to score the tying goal on a penalty shot at Toronto but was foiled by Blackhawk goalie Andrei Trefilov with 54 seconds left.

Sundin was stopped by Trefilov’s right pad when he tried to switch to his backhand. His third-period goal, however, was the 250th of his NHL career and his 600th point.

St. Louis 5, Calgary 1--Geoff Courtnall scored twice in the third period at Calgary to lead the Blues to their four consecutive victory.

With the Blues holding a 3-1 lead with just over five minutes left, Courtnall scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season 1:39 apart.

Carolina 2, New York Islanders 1--The Islanders lost for the 10th consecutive time as the Hurricanes’ Bates Battaglia scored the game-winner in overtime at Uniondale, N.Y.

Battaglia, down low in the right circle, took a shot toward Islander goalie Wade Flaherty. The puck bounced off defenseman Scott Lachance and past Flaherty at 1:59 of overtime.

San Jose 5, Buffalo 2--Bernie Nicholls and John MacLean each had a goal and an assist as the Sharks won at San Jose.

The Sharks, 13-0-2 when taking a lead into the third period and 9-0 when scoring four or more goals, ended a two-game losing streak as goaltender Mike Vernon turned back 17 shots.