A Banner Night for Bowman, Red Wings

After watching Detroit’s ninth Stanley Cup banner raised to the rafters and seeing Coach Scotty Bowman for the first time since the summer, Brendan Shanahan scored three goals and the Red Wings celebrated their home opener with a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Friday at Joe Louis Arena.

Shanahan recorded his 11th career hat trick. Shanahan, who has four goals after three games, beat goalie Grant Fuhr once in the first period and twice in the second.

Before the game, the Red Wings held a ceremony to celebrate last year’s Stanley Cup championship. The crowd saved its biggest cheers for Bowman, who is recovering from heart and knee surgery.

Bowman had spent the day undergoing a stress checkup.

The results of those tests will determine whether he returns to coach again. Assistants Dave Lewis and Barry Smith have run the club in his absence.

Florida 2, Buffalo 2--Rookie Oleg Kvasha scored his first NHL goal as the Panthers rallied for a tie at Buffalo.

Ray Whitney also scored for the Panthers, who received 23 saves from goaltender Sean Burke.

Geoff Sanderson and Michal Grosek scored goals for Buffalo and Sabre goalie Dominik Hasek made 32 saves.

New Jersey 2, N.Y. Rangers 1--Patrick Elias scored midway through the third period and goaltender Martin Brodeur made 24 saves to help the Devils extend their unbeaten against the Rangers to 10 games with a victory at Madison Square Garden.

New York rookie goaltender Dan Cloutier, starting in place of Mike Richter, made 28 saves but the Rangers dropped to 0-4 for the first time since the 1959 season.

Washington 2, Montreal 2--Scott Thorton scored with 2:32 remaining in the third period as the Canadiens rallied at Washington.

Adam Oates and Dimitri Mironov scored their first goals of the season for the Capitals, and Vincent Damphousse scored the other goal for Montreal.

Philadelphia 5, Tampa Bay 2--John LeClair scored three goals for his eighth career hat trick, and Eric Lindros had a goal and two assists for the Flyers at Tampa.

Toronto 7, Calgary 3--Mike Johnson and Alyn McCauley scored two goals each for the Maple Leafs at Calgary.

Steve Thomas, Sergei Berezin and Tie Domi also scored for the Leafs, who jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first period.