Richter, Brodeur Good as Gold

The goalies would like to stare each other down again--with a gold medal at stake.

On the night Mike Richter was selected to the U.S. Olympic team, he made 33 saves and stopped a penalty shot as the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils tied, 2-2, on Wednesday night in New York.

New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, already chosen for the Canadian team, stopped 23 shots, including a frantic diving save against Mike York in the final second of overtime.

Brodeur wanted reporters to tell Richter “congratulations” on the selection. Then he added, “I want to play against Mike in a shootout for the gold medal. That would be great.”

The message was relayed to Richter, who smiled.

“It’s definitely a dream, getting into the gold-medal game against Canada,” Richter said. “That would be real interesting. But we’re getting way ahead of ourselves.”

Indeed, the Atlantic Division foes and cross-river rivals play again Jan. 19, before the Olympic break. The Rangers won the first meeting, in October, in overtime.

York and Jeff Toms scored for the Rangers, who played without Eric Lindros, still sidelined by a sprained knee, and Mark Messier, resting a bad back.

Andrei Zyuzin and Brian Rafalski had New Jersey goals, but Devil defenseman Colin White failed on a penalty shot, and Scott Stevens hit the post with a slap shot in the second.

“Yes, we would have liked to have gotten the win in here,” Devil Coach Larry Robinson said, “especially when you go up against a team without Messier and Lindros.”

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San Jose 4, Atlanta 2--Patrick Marleau scored twice, and the Sharks ran their unbeaten streak to 10 by defeating the Thrashers at Atlanta.

San Jose, 9-0-1 in its last 10 games, has won a franchise-record six straight road games. Atlanta has won only once in nine games.

Marco Sturm’s 11th goal, a short-hander with 11:38 to play, broke a 2-2 tie. Marleau scored his fourth goal of the season, second of the game, with 7:09 left to make it 4-2.

Phoenix 6, Calgary 3--Claude Lemieux and Shane Doan each scored two goals as the Coyotes rallied at Phoenix.

It was the Coyotes’ biggest comeback since the franchise moved from Canada five years ago.

Calgary led, 3-0, in the first period, then the Coyotes scored twice in a nine-second span to ignite their biggest rally since 1993, when they were the Winnipeg Jets.

Chicago 6, Buffalo 5--Steve Sullivan scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:49 left in the third period, leading the Blackhawks at Buffalo, N.Y.

Chicago ended a four-game losing streak against Buffalo and finished its four-game trip 3-1.

The Sabres lost for the fifth time in six games, as Buffalo backup goalie Bob Essensa allowed three goals on only five shots.

Detroit 4, Vancouver 1--Brett Hull had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings, who stopped a shutout streak that stretched over three games.

Hull ended the Red Wing scoring drought at 128 minutes 38 seconds when he scored 3:14 into the game at Detroit. The Red Wings’ previous goal was in the third period of last Thursday’s victory over Edmonton.

Montreal 3, Pittsburgh 1--Patrick Traverse and Richard Zednik scored power-play goals, leading the Canadiens at Pittsburgh.

The Penguins have lost four consecutive games to match their worst stretch of the season. The four losses were at home during the Penguins’ season-long five-game homestand that has one game remaining.

Florida 5, Washington 2--Dan Boyle had a goal and two assists to lead the Panthers at Sunrise, Fla.

Capital forward Jaromir Jagr left the game in the second period after taking a stick to the mouth from Florida’s Lance Ward. Jagr had damage to his teeth, but didn’t need stitches.