In Battle of the Best Goalies, Roy Prevails

Colorado Coach Bob Hartley didn’t mince words in analyzing the marquee matchup of Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek.

“Patrick was Patrick,” Hartley said. “I felt he totally outplayed Hasek.”

Roy stopped 30 shots while Hasek turned away just 14 as the Avalanche beat the Red Wings, 4-1, Wednesday night at Detroit in the first meeting of the season between the Western Conference powers.

Milan Hejduk, Radim Vrbata, Steven Reinprecht and Rob Blake scored as the Avalanche extended its season-high unbeaten streak to six games.

“We were ready for a big game,” Roy said.

The Red Wings lost consecutive games in the regular season for the first time since January, but they still have the NHL’s best record, at 22-5-1-1.

Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman is not ready to be nervous about the play of Hasek, a six-time Vezina Trophy winner and two-time most valuable player.

“The only chance he had was on the last goal,” Bowman said.

Roy made numerous saves during Detroit’s two third-period power plays. Hasek gave up two goals in the first period on 10 shots, one in the second and the fourth on Blake’s soft wrist shot with 3:30 left.

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Florida 2, Columbus 0--The Mike Keenan era got off to a perfect start.

Roberto Luongo stopped 23 shots for his fourth shutout as the Panthers beat the Blue Jackets at Sunrise, Fla.

Florida hired Keenan on Monday, replacing Duane Sutter after the team won just six of its first 26 games.

New Jersey 2, Montreal 1--Patrick Elias scored his 14th goal and assisted on Brian Rafalski’s game-winner 15 seconds into the third period to lift the Devils at Montreal.

Ottawa 6, Dallas 3--Martin Havlat had two second-period goals at Dallas and an assist as the Senators ended the Stars’ four-game winning streak.

Chicago 4, Minnesota 2--Michael Nylander had a goal and two assists to lead the Blackhawks at Chicago.

Chicago earned its first victory at the United Center since Nov. 11.

Phoenix 3, St. Louis 0--Sean Burke made 27 saves for his 29th career shutout as Phoenix won its third in a row and sixth straight at home.