Blues in Driver’s Seat at Detroit

Chris Pronger thinks St. Louis belongs with the NHL’s elite teams. The way the Blues are playing, he may be right.

Michal Handzus scored the go-ahead goal in St. Louis’ 4-1 victory over Detroit Tuesday night, the Blues’ sixth win in a row, and their first road victory over the Red Wings in almost three years.

Jamal Mayers, Marty Reasoner and Scott Pellerin also scored for the Blues, who have lost twice at Joe Louis Arena this season. Detroit hadn’t lost to the Blues at Joe Louis since April 13, 1997, going 6-0-2 against them over that span.

“It doesn’t all fall on one guy anymore,” Pronger said. “We can spread the scoring around now, and we can play defense.”

Larry Murphy scored for the Red Wings, who lost their third in a row--their longest skid of the season.

San Jose 8, Tampa Bay 0--Owen Nolan had two power-play goals and added three assists at Tampa, Fla., as the Sharks ended a six-game winless streak.

Nolan, who has 34 goals and 31 assists, is second in the NHL in scoring with 65 points--15 behind Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr.

Jeff Friesen had two goals and two assists; and Ron Sutter, Todd Harvey, Ronnie Stern and Patrick Marleau also scored. Steve Shields made 23 saves for his second shutout of the season.

Tampa Bay has lost 10 of 11 and is 2-20-2 in its last 24.

Buffalo 2, Colorado 0--Dominik Hasek made 24 saves for his 43rd career shutout in the Sabres’ victory at Denver.

Miroslav Satan had an unassisted, short-handed goal midway through the first period, and Dixon Ward added a third-period goal.

The victory snapped Buffalo’s four-game road losing streak and ended Colorado’s 12-game unbeaten streak at home.

New Jersey 2, N.Y. Rangers 2--Mike York’s third-period goal for the host Rangers was the last of the game as the Devils extended their unbeaten streak against New York to 18 games. The Devils are 12-0-6 against the Rangers since Jan. 12, 1997.

Carolina 4, N.Y. Islanders 3--Ron Francis scored with 2:31 left at Uniondale, N.Y., as the Hurricanes ended a five-game road losing streak.

Edmonton 5, Montreal 4--Jason Smith scored at 3:04 of overtime at Montreal to lead the Oilers to victory in their franchise-record 22nd overtime game of the season.

Montreal’s Trevor Linden had three goals, his first hat trick since March 9, 1996.

Boston 2, Washington 2--Craig Billington stopped 49 shots and Ken Klee scored with 3:54 left in regulation as the Capitals tied the Bruins at Boston.

Around the League

Mike Richter, the New York Rangers’ lone all-star, sat out Tuesday’s game against New Jersey because of an injured left knee. His status is day-to-day. Richter was injured Saturday night during the skills competition of the All-Star weekend. Adam Graves also missed the game because of the death of his son. Jaxon Graves, born prematurely on Jan. 14 along with brother Logan, died Tuesday morning. . . . The Dallas Stars beefed up their injury-depleted lineup by acquiring defensemen Sylvain Cote and Dave Manson from the Chicago Blackhawks. The Stars gave up defenseman Kevin Dean, center Derek Plante and a second-round draft choice in 2001. . . . Detroit fans paid tribute to Sid Abel, a Hall of Famer who also coached the Red Wings, with a moment of silence before Tuesday’s game against St. Louis. Abel died Tuesday at 81. . . . While reaffirming his commitment to the Vancouver Canucks, captain Mark Messier said he wouldn’t stand in the way of a possible trade.