Red Wings Give Bowman a Victory in 2,000th Game

Detroit Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman was behind the bench for his 2,000th regular-season NHL game Friday night, a feat raucously applauded by fans and players alike.

About four minutes into the Wings’ home game against Vancouver, the Joe Louis Arena public-address announcer noted the latest milestone by the Hall of Fame coach.

Fans gave Bowman a two-minute standing ovation during Detroit’s 3-2 victory over the Canucks at Detroit, as players from both benches rapped their sticks on the boards. Those on the ice slapped their sticks on the playing surface.

Bowman smiled, having said last week the milestone amounted to just another game.

“I knew it was going to happen sometime this year,” he said.

Sergei Fedorov scored two goals, including the game-winner with 28 seconds left, to lift Detroit.

Dallas 3, Columbus 0--Ed Belfour stopped 23 shots for his fifth shutout in eight games as the Stars remained unbeaten in their last five (4-0-1) with a victory over the expansion Blue Jackets at Dallas.

St. Louis 4, Nashville 0--Lubos Bartecko and Craig Conroy scored unassisted goals and Roman Turek made 28 saves, leading the Blues past the Predators at Nashville, Tenn.

Washington 1, New York Islanders 0--Olaf Kolzig stopped 22 shots for his first shutout this season and the Capitals finally won consecutive games by defeating the slumping Islanders at Washington.

Buffalo 3, New York Rangers 2--Jason Woolley scored a power-play goal 7:50 into the third period as the Sabres ended a two-game losing streak by defeated the Rangers at Buffalo, N.Y.

Tampa Bay 2, Florida 1--Mike Johnson and Cory Sarich scored fluke second-period goals off the stick of defenseman Brad Ference at Tampa, Fla., as the Lightning snapped an 11-game winless streak against Florida.

Pittsburgh 1, Philadelphia 0--Alexei Kovalev scored his 11th goal and Garth Snow stopped all 36 shots for his 10th career shutout as the Penguins ended a 13-game regular season winless streak at Philadelphia.

Carolina 3, Boston 1--Arturs Irbe made 16 saves as the Hurricanes extended their regular-season unbeaten streak at Boston to seven.

Minnesota 2, Chicago 0--Manny Fernandez stopped 27 shots for his first shutout this season, leading the Wild over the Blackhawks at St. Paul, Minn.