Canucks’ Victory Is Keenan’s 500th

The normally ice-cold Mike Keenan turned soft after earning the 500th victory of his coaching career Thursday night as Vancouver Canuck goaltender Garth Snow defeated the Colorado Avalanche, 5-0, at Denver.

“It means a lot,” Keenan said. “I’m very proud of the accomplishment. As I said earlier this week, it means I’ve been around too long.

“There have been some great coaches in the history of the NHL. This means you’ve had some great teams and great players to work with, because coaches don’t win hockey games. Players do.”

The victory tied Keenan with former Montreal coach Toe Blake for fifth place in NHL history. Only Scotty Bowman (1,062 victories), Al Arbour (781), Dick Irvin (693) and Billy Reay (542) are ahead of him.

Peter Zezel and Mark Messier scored first-period goals, and the Canucks added two short-handed goals in the second period to end a 15-game winless streak against Colorado. The Canucks had gone 0-12-3 against Colorado since December 1995.

Nashville 3, St. Louis 2--Cliff Ronning scored with 38.9 seconds left in overtime to cap the Predators’ rally from a two-goal deficit at Nashville, Tenn.

New Jersey 3, Carolina 2--Jay Pandolfo scored on a backhander in close with 1:23 left in overtime to give the Devils the victory at East Rutherford, N.J.

The winner came only 10 seconds after the Hurricanes killed off the Devils’ eighth power play of the game and gave New Jersey its fifth consecutive victory at home and seventh in their last nine overall.

Boston 5, Florida 5--Scott Mellanby, Mark Parrish and Robert Svehla scored third-period goals as the Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit for the tie at Boston.

It was Boston’s third overtime game in their last five outings. The Bruins are 0-1-4 in overtime games this season. Florida is 0-0-3.

Montreal 4, Calgary 3--Eric Houde and Jonas Hoglund each scored his first goal of the season in the third period to lift the Canadiens to victory over the Flames at Montreal.

The goals erased a 3-2 Calgary lead and gave goaltender Jeff Hackett the victory in his first start with Montreal, which had lost four in a row.

Pittsburgh 5, Tampa Bay 1--Stu Barnes scored twice during a five-goal second period and Martin Straka added a goal and two assists for the Penguins at Tampa, Fla.

The Penguins scored four times, including both Barnes goals, during the opening 10:51 of the second period. Pittsburgh outshot the Lightning, 11-0, during the goal-scoring spree.

DAILY REPORT / Lightning’s Nazarov Suspended

Right wing Andrei Nazarov of the Tampa Bay Lightning was suspended by the NHL for seven games and fined $1,000 for cross-checking defenseman Cam Russell of the Colorado Avalanche last Friday.

Nazarov served one game of the suspension, sitting out of Saturday’s game against the Phoenix Coyotes. He will sit out Tampa Bay’s next six games.