Red Wings Win Battle for First

Steve Yzerman had two assists as the Detroit Red Wings took sole possession of first place in the Central Division by beating the St. Louis Blues, 4-2, Wednesday at Detroit.

Doug Brown, Martin Dandenault, Pat Verbeek and Brendan Shanahan scored goals for the Red Wings, who ended a two-game losing streak and broke a first-place tie with the Blues.

Yzerman, one goal shy of becoming the 11th player in NHL history to score 600 goals, assisted on the goals by Dandenault and Verbeek. Yzerman had a good chance to score himself on a short-handed break with 4:42 remaining, but goalie Roman Turek blocked his shot from the top of the right circle.

Craig Conroy and Pavol Demitra scored for St. Louis, which had a five-game unbeaten streak snapped as well as a four-game road winning streak. The Blues, 0-2 at Detroit this season, have not won a regular-season game in Joe Louis Arena since April 13, 1997.

N.Y. Rangers 6, Tampa Bay 3--The Rangers stopped a three-game losing streak, but lost defenseman Brian Leetch to a broken right forearm in a victory against the Lightning at Tampa, Fla.

Leetch was hurt in the first period when he blocked a shot by Tampa Bay’s Fredrik Modin and will miss at least four weeks. He will return to New York and won’t accompany the team for Friday’s game at Florida.

New York’s John MacLean had two assists and became the 102nd player to reach 800 points.

Buffalo 5, Washington 2--Miroslav Satan and Curtis Brown each scored two goals and Stu Barnes added three assists as the Sabres defeated the Capitals at Buffalo, N.Y.

Ulf Dahlen scored his first two goals of the season and Adam Oates had a pair of assists for Washington, which lost for the first time in five games.

Carolina 1, Vancouver 1--Sami Kapanen’s team-leading 10th goal helped the Hurricanes tie the Canucks at Raleigh, N.C.

Carolina, which is 0-2-14 in its last 16 overtime games, hasn’t won in overtime since last March against the Rangers. The Hurricanes have scored one goal in the last three games.

Philadelphia 6, Florida 1--Eric Lindros scored a pair of goals and John Vanbiesbrouck beat his former team for the second time this season as the Flyers blasted the Panthers at Sunrise, Fla.

Philadelphia snapped a two-game road losing streak and moved ahead of the Panthers and into a tie for first place with Toronto in the Eastern Conference.

Boston 5, Nashville 2--Dave Andreychuk scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, his 15th of the season, as the Bruins continued their dominance of the Predators at Nashville.

Boston, which outscored Nashville, 13-3, last season in winning both games, scored four goals in the second on nine shots against goaltender Mike Dunham.

Chicago 3, Edmonton 2--Doug Gilmour scored two goals and Alexei Zhamnov added the game-winner in the third period as Chicago beat the Oilers at Edmonton, Canada, to end a four-game losing streak.

Zhamnov broke a 2-2 tie at 9:30 of the third period with a slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle, capping a strong rush by Tony Amonte.