Red Wings Roll Past the Avalanche, 5-3

The Detroit Red Wings are off to a hot start, and Brendan Shanahan is right in the middle of things as usual.

Shanahan scored two goals at Detroit as the Red Wings beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-3, Wednesday night in the season’s first renewal of one of the NHL’s fiercest rivalries.

Shanahan’s goals left him one short of 400 in his career.

“It just means I’ve been around,” Shanahan said.

Vyacheslav Kozlov, Tomas Holmstrom and Darren McCarty also scored for the Red Wings (7-1-1), who have won five straight and are unbeaten in seven games since their lone loss Oct. 5 against Dallas.

“We talked during the start of training camp about the importance of getting off to a good start, and we have,” Shanahan said. “We had a lot of early-season tests last year and didn’t do very well.”

Adam Deadmarsh scored two goals and Shjon Podein another as Colorado fell to 2-2 on a four-game road trip that ends today at Philadelphia. The Avalanche’s early schedule has been road-heavy because of the move into their new home at the Pepsi Center.

“The beauty of the schedule is everybody plays 41 home, 41 away,” said Colorado goalie Patrick Roy, who made 22 saves. “It’ll all even out. I think playing some tough games on the road early will help us.”

Deadmarsh’s second goal came in the final minute during a six-man attack, cutting Detroit’s lead to 4-3. But McCarty’s empty-net goal with 18.4 seconds left ended Colorado’s comeback hopes.

The game was the first meeting between the teams since Colorado ousted Detroit in six games in last season’s Western Conference semifinals.

Chicago 1, Montreal 0--Tony Amonte scored the only goal and Jocelyn Thibault made 29 saves at Montreal as the Blackhawks became the last NHL team to win a game.

The Blackhawks (1-4-4-0) avoided setting a team record by going winless in their first nine games. They started 0-7-1 in 1953-54.

New Jersey 2, St. Louis 1--Randy McKay and Brian Rolston scored in a 2:50 span bridging the first and second periods at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Devils ended the Blues’ four-game winning streak.

Florida 6, New York Islanders 3--Pavel Bure scored two goals at Sunrise, Fla., in his first action in two weeks. Bure has five goals and four assists in five games this season. It was his first game since suffering a groin injury against Montreal on Oct. 12, forcing him to miss five games.

Toronto 4, Atlanta 0--Dmitri Khristich scored two goals and Glenn Healy stopped 16 shots at Toronto for his 12th career shutout.

Buffalo 4, Tampa Bay 3--Dominik Hasek recorded his first victory of the season and Sabre defenseman James Patrick scored the game-winner with 5:13 to play at Buffalo, N.Y.

Hasek allowed three goals in a span of 3:28 in the second period as Tampa Bay went up, 3-2. He was booed when he gave up his third goal.

Around the league

The Phoenix Coyotes recalled right wing Tavis Hansen from Springfield of the American Hockey League.