Red Wings Earn Tie, End Blues’ Streak

If the St. Louis Blues were disappointed about the end of their team-record eight-game winning streak, they hid it well.

“I don’t think anybody’s worried about it,” Pavol Demitra said after the Blues’ 2-2 tie with the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night at St. Louis. “I don’t think anybody even knew we made a record the last game, we just try to play it game-by-game and try to win most of them.”

Jochen Hecht scored a power-play goal on the Blues’ only shot of the third period to salvage a tie. The Central Division leaders, 12-1-2 at home, were outshot, 9-1, in the third period as they missed a chance to tie the Colorado Avalanche for the most points in the league.

“We should be proud we accomplished the record,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’ve been going along pretty good and we played one of the stronger teams in the league and we still held our own.”

Demitra also scored for the Blues, who set the franchise record with a 6-3 victory Friday at Atlanta and have not lost since Vancouver beat them, 4-3, Nov. 21. They outscored their opponents, 39-16, during the streak and totaled 18 goals in their three previous games.

Philadelphia 6, New Jersey 3--This was the first meeting in Philadelphia between the clubs since the Devils rallied from a 3-1 deficit in last season’s Eastern Conference finals--winning two of the final three games on the Flyers’ home ice.

The Flyers snapped a five-game regular-season winless streak (0-4-1) against the Devils. They tied, 1-1, earlier this season.

Pittsburgh 4, Montreal 4--Jaromir Jagr’s eighth career hat trick couldn’t spoil Saku Koivu’s return to the Canadien lineup at Montreal as the captain scored twice.

The Canadiens ended a six-game losing streak, though they remain winless in eight games (0-6-2) since Nov. 30.

Jagr, who had scored twice in his previous 14 games, scored two goals late in the second period to tie the score and added his 18th goal 2:39 into the third to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead.

San Jose 2, Phoenix 1--Gary Suter blasted a shot past Sean Burke 1:53 into overtime at Phoenix as the Sharks strengthened their lead in the Pacific Division.

It was the first overtime loss for Phoenix, which failed again to win consecutive games during a six-week slump.

Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov made 27 saves on the way to his NHL-best 17th victory--one more than Colorado’s Patrick Roy.

Chicago 3, Nashville 0--Jocelyn Thibault made 24 saves at Nashville for his 17th career shutout as the Blackhawks snapped a five-game losing streak.

Eric Daze scored his first goal in seven games and Michael Nylander and Steve Dubinsky also scored for Chicago, which won for the first time since Dec. 3. Nashville is 1-6-1 in its last eight.

Calgary 6, Toronto 5--Valeri Bure scored in overtime at Toronto as the Flames spoiled Curtis Joseph’s bid for his 300th win.

Toronto’s Gary Roberts received a roughing penalty just as regulation time expired, and Bure one-timed the puck past Joseph 34 seconds into overtime. After going without a goal in his previous 13 games, Bure has three in last three games.

Ottawa 6, New York Islanders 0--The Senators improved to 19-8-4-0 with the home victory and moved into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference as a result of Toronto’s loss. Patrick Lalime made 26 saves for his fourth shutout of the season.

Boston 4, Carolina 1--Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov each scored two goals and Byron Dafoe made 17 saves at Boston in his first start in nearly a month.

Thornton, who sat out six recent games because of a leg injury and had not scored in exactly a month, fired a low shot past Arturs Irbe to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead early in the second period.

Washington 4, Edmonton 0--Peter Bondra had a goal and an assist and Olaf Kolzig recorded his third shutout as the Capitals extended their home unbeaten streak to nine games.

The Capitals, 7-0-2 at MCI Center during that span, also have won four in a row overall and are two games over .500 overall for the first time this season (13-11-6-1).

Buffalo 3, Florida 2--The Sabres improved to 13-0 in games in which they lead after two periods. The Panthers are 0-13-1-2 when behind after two periods.

A night after giving up three goals on 21 shots in a 5-3 loss to Carolina, Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek stopped 28 shots at Buffalo.

Vancouver 4, Columbus 3--Matt Cooke scored twice and Brendan Morrison assisted on all four goals at Vancouver.

Morrison set a career high in points and assists as the Canucks, playing their first game in six days, won for the fourth time in six games.