Avalanche, Drury Finish Strong, 2-1
Chris Drury scored 3:15 into overtime and Joe Sakic had two assists as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 2-1, Thursday night at Denver.
After solid performances from both goalies, Drury tipped in a rebound of a shot Sakic fired from the left wing.
Once again, it was Patrick Roy who kept the Avalanche in the game when the team played sluggishly. He blocked Daniel Briere’s shot at 9:25 in the third to neutralize a two-on-one break, then stuffed Michal Hanzus after Drury coughed up the puck in the Avalanche zone.
Roy finished with 32 saves, and Sean Burke had 25 for Phoenix.
Colorado played without defenseman Rob Blake, who is out indefinitely with a bruised knee suffered in a 2-2 tie Tuesday against Calgary.
Dallas 4, Vancouver 3--Mike Modano scored a power- play goal with less than a second left in overtime, lifting the Stars to the victory at Vancouver, Canada.
With Ed Jovanovski in the penalty box for boarding, Dan Cloutier stopped Joe Nieuwendyk from close range after a scramble in front of the Vancouver net. Modano stuffed home the rebound on his backhand just before time expired.
Nashville 3, Edmonton 2--Martin Erat scored with less than two minutes remaining as the Predators rallied at Edmonton, Canada.
Vitali Yachmenev’s long slap shot tied the score for Nashville only 25 seconds into the third period. The shot was reminiscent of the long, high shot that beat Salo to give Belarus a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Winter Olympics.
Calgary 3, St. Louis 2--Jeff Shantz and Petr Buzek each scored his first goal in more than a year as the Flames won at Calgary, Canada.
Shantz, Buzek and Derek Morris scored in the second period as Calgary built a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes, then held off a St. Louis rally.
Carolina 6, Boston 2--Ron Francis scored a goal and had three assists at Boston as the Hurricanes won for only the third time in their last 14 games.
Ottawa 3, New York Rangers 0--Patrick Lalime stopped 34 shots for his second shutout of the season and Radek Bonk scored twice at New York.
San Jose 5, Washington 2--Alex Korolyuk scored the tiebreaking goal to spark a three-goal second period at Washington as the Sharks won their seventh in a row. San Jose last loss on Jan. 29 at Toronto.
Pittsburgh 4, Columbus 3--Michal Rozsival won it in overtime after Alexei Morozov jammed in a loose puck with 31.2 seconds left in regulation at Columbus, Ohio, as the the Penguins ended an eight-game winless streak (0-5-1-2).
New York Ranger captain Mark Messier will have arthroscopic shoulder surgery today and will be sidelined for at least a month.
The decision to have surgery was put on hold for about one hour late Thursday afternoon after Messier, Ranger General Manager Glen Sather and team surgeon Dr. Andrew Feldman considered a final ultrasound treatment. But the team announced afterward that surgery will go on as planned.