Roy Shuts Out the Devils, 5-0

Chasing a playoff spot is helping Patrick Roy as he chases history.

Roy moved into a tie with Jacques Plante for second place on the NHL’s career victory list, and the Colorado Avalanche broke out of a scoring slump, beating the New Jersey Devils, 5-0, Thursday night at Denver.

Roy, who has 434 victories in 15 seasons, made 24 saves for his 48th shutout. He needs 13 more wins to tie Terry Sawchuk’s NHL record.

“One thing was for sure. If we win a game, the milestone would come with it,” Roy said. “It’s a huge win for us. I’m not saying it’s a relief, but it’s a big win.”

The victory came in front of former Montreal coach Mario Tremblay, whose feud with Roy led to the goalie’s trade to Colorado in December 1995. Tremblay is a scout for the Canadiens.

Fourteen of Roy’s victories have come against New Jersey. He also became the first goalie to shut out the Eastern Conference-leading Devils since Jan. 2, 1999--a span of 111 games.

Joe Sakic led Colorado’s scoring attack with two goals and an assist as the Avalanche took advantage of New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur for the second time in two weeks.

After giving up five goals to Colorado in a 5-5 tie Feb. 17, Brodeur surrendered four more in a 7:07 span of the second period.

St. Louis 5, Atlanta 2--Lubos Bartecko scored twice and Pavol Demitra added his 100th goal at Atlanta as the Blues tied an NHL record with their 10th consecutive road victory.

In a matchup between the best and worst teams, the Blues equaled the road mark set by the 1983-84 Buffalo Sabres. St. Louis, which has the league’s best away record (22-8-2), has outscored opponents 39-15 during the streak that started Jan. 21 at Chicago.

San Jose 4, Nashville 3--Marco Sturm’s short-handed score completed San Jose’s three-goal rally at San Jose.

The Predators scored three times in only 3:09 of the second to take a 3-1 lead, but goals by Brad Stuart and Jeff Friesen tied the score.

The victory was the Sharks’ first in 23 games (1-20-2) when trailing after two periods.

New York Islanders 5, Ottawa 5--Wade Redden scored with 62 seconds left in regulation as the Senators rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period at Uniondale, N.Y.

With goalie Ron Tugnutt pulled for an extra attacker, Radek Bonk won a left-circle draw and sent the puck back to Redden, who wristed the puck to the far side past Kevin Weekes.

Montreal 5, Boston 2--Sergei Zholtok’s tie-breaking goal in the third period at Boston ended Montreal’s eight-game winless streak against the Bruins.

Around the League

Goaltender Patrick DesRochers, the Phoenix Coyotes’ first-round pick in the 1998 draft, was recalled from Springfield of the AHL.