Fleury Helps Rangers Stop Hasek, Sabres

Brian Leetch’s good hearing and touch passing led to a momentous goal.

Theo Fleury scored two goals to lead the New York Rangers to a 5-2 victory Friday night over Buffalo that snapped the Sabres’ three-game winning streak.

Fleury’s second goal was set up by Leetch, who moved into second place on the Rangers’ career point list with 818. Leetch broke a tie with Jean Ratelle when he heard Fleury scream that he was open.

“I was yelling as loud as I could and Leetch has been making those plays for years,” Fleury said. “Leetch made a great play and I just tried to put it on net.”

The Rangers, who once again moved over the .500 mark (15-14), scored three times in the third period against nemesis Dominik Hasek.

The Sabre goalie, who has five career shutouts against the Rangers, was unbeaten in 12 of his last 13 decisions against New York.

Vancouver 6, San Jose 1--Harold Druken scored a hat trick and Donald Brashear had three assists as the Canucks routed the Sharks at San Jose.

Detroit 5, Philadelphia 1--Steve Yzerman scored his first goal and added two assists to lead the Red Wings past the Flyers at Detroit.

Ottawa 1, Montreal 0--Andreas Dackell scored with less than three minutes left in the third period and Patrick Lalime stopped 22 shots to lead the Senators past the Canadiens at Kanata, Canada.

Colorado 2, Tampa Bay 0--Rookie David Aebischer made 24 saves and Joe Sakic had a goal and an assist as the Avalanche defeated the Lightning at Tampa, Fla.

Columbus 3, Boston 2--Geoff Sanderson scored with 8.6 seconds remaining at Columbus, Ohio, to give the Blue Jackets their first overtime victory.

Atlanta 4, Nashville 3--Ray Ferraro’s power-play goal 22 seconds into overtime lifted the Thrashers past the Panthers at Atlanta.

Around the League

Hall of Fame center and Pittsburgh owner Mario Lemieux confirmed reports that he plans a comeback with the Penguins, the team he helped lead to two Stanley Cups. “I missed the game and missed the challenge of competing,” Lemieux said. “I am excited by the challenge of attempting a comeback.” . . . Enrico Ciccone of the Montreal Canadiens, once one of the NHL’s top enforcers, retired because of injuries that have slowed him since training camp. . . . Former Detroit Red Wing defenseman Gary Bergman died after an eight-month battle with cancer. He was 62.