Red Wings Hold Off Rangers

Steve Yzerman fueled a three-goal first period with a goal and an assist, and the Detroit Red Wings held off a late charge by the New York Rangers for a 4-2 victory Sunday at New York.

It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Stanley Cup champions, but the Rangers made them work for it by turning what appeared to be a blowout into a thriller. Marc Savard and Brent Fedyk scored for New York to make it 3-1.

Goaltender Chris Osgood made 29 saves, none more important than a stop on Mathieu Schneider from the slot in the final minute with the Rangers skating with a man advantage after pulling their goalie. Nicklas Lidstrom, with Yzerman assisting again, then scored an empty-net goal for the final margin.

“We had a game like this before, we were up by four and nearly lost it,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said. “Yeah, I was concerned.”

Philadelphia 4, Colorado 4--John LeClair tied the score with his NHL-leading 35th goal in the third period and the Flyers managed to tie the Avalanche at Denver.

The Flyers blew their second 3-1 lead in as many games before LeClair scored at 8:43 of the third period.

Philadelphia gave up a second-period goal to Adam Foote and goals 59 seconds apart in the third period to Valeri Kamensky and Peter Forsberg to fall behind, 4-3.