Sakic Shoots His Way Past Depleted Blues

Joe Sakic had two goals and an assist at St. Louis as he led the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-2 victory Thursday night over the Blues, who are still missing All-Star defensemen Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger.

“We knew they were missing some of their better players and everybody gave a good effort,” Sakic said.

St. Louis is 4-10-3 without MacInnis and Pronger.

Sakic’s second goal of the game and 39th of the season at 3:54 of the second period gave the Avalanche a 3-2 lead. Colorado won its third consecutive road game.

“(Joe) not only did it tonight, he’s been like this all year long,” Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said.

It was the fourth time this season Sakic had multiple goals. The last time was Jan. 4 against San Jose when he scored twice.

Phoenix 3, Vancouver 2--Shane Doan scored 48 seconds into overtime as the Coyotes rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Canucks at Phoenix.

Keith Tkachuk, in perhaps his last days with the Coyotes, tied the game at 2-2 on a shot that slipped between goalie Bob Essensa’s legs at 15:55 of the third period.

Tkachuk, the subject of numerous trade rumors as Tuesday’s deadline approaches, has seven goals and 16 assists in 15 games since the all-star break.

Philadelphia 5, Calgary 2--Keith Primeau recorded his first career hat trick and Roman Cechmanek made 22 saves as the Flyers beat the Flames at Philadelphia.

Eric Desjardins and Chris McAllister also scored for the Flyers. Jarome Iginla scored both goals for the Flames.

Primeau reached a career-best with 32 goals this season.

New Jersey 6, Minnesota 2--Sergei Brylin and Patrik Elias scored a minute and a half apart in the first period and the Devils spoiled the return of former coach Jacques Lemaire by beating the Wild at East Rutherford, N.J.

Scott Niedermayer, Bob Corkum, Petr Sykora and Randy McKay also scored, and Martin Brodeur had 26 saves as the Devils won their sixth in a row. New Jersey won the Stanley Cup under Lemaire in 1995.

Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 3--Jan Hrdina scored the go-ahead goal with 3:37 remaining and Jaromir Jagr had two goals and an assist as the Penguins defeated the Thrashers at Atlanta.

Mario Lemieux, whose presence helped Atlanta to its fifth sellout this season, was on the ice for four of Pittsburgh’s goals.

Ottawa 5, Boston 3--Shawn McEachern and Radek Bonk scored two goals each to lift the Senators past the Bruins at Boston.

Ottawa, which lost to New Jersey on Tuesday, has lost back-to-back games only once this season.

Tampa Bay 1, Carolina 0--Martin St. Louis scored with 59 seconds remaining, and Kevin Weekes made 20 saves for his third shutout in six games to lead the Lightning at Tampa, Fla.