Bruins’ No. 2 Goalie Stops No. 1 Detroit

The league’s two No. 1 teams brought out their No. 2 goalies, and put on a pretty good show anyway.

John Grahame stopped 29 shots and Glen Murray scored his career-best 30th goal to break a second-period tie and lead the Bruins past the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, Saturday at Boston.

“It was almost like playoff hockey,” Detroit forward Igor Larionov said.

Manny Legace, starting in place of Dominik Hasek for the first time since Feb. 8, made 20 saves for Detroit, which lost for the second time in 11 games. With 102 points, the Red Wings are first overall in the NHL.

Grahame made his first start since Feb. 28 to give Boston 84 points--tied for first in the East with Philadelphia.

“I try not to be too surprised by anything,” said Grahame, who learned earlier in the week that he would start. “It proves that we can play with any team in the NHL. We’re one of the top teams in the league as well.”

Brian Rolston scored for Boston. Sergei Fedorov picked up his 500th career assist, helping out on Kris Draper’s tying goal with 16:02 left in the second period.

Grahame made consecutive stops from point-blank range with six minutes left to help preserve the win.

“He was definitely ready, and he came through,” said Byron Dafoe, Boston’s top goalie. “For me, it was a nonconference game and an opportunity to get some rest. I’m sure that was [Detroit’s] mindset with Hasek as well.”

The crowd of 17,565 included quite a few Red Wings’ fans, one of whom threw a squid on the ice in the third period--a tradition in Detroit.

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Colorado 2, Philadelphia 1--Ville Nieminen scored the go-ahead goal with 4:36 left and Patrick Roy stopped 36 shots at Philadelphia.

The Flyers, winless in their last four games, have lost four in a row at the First Union Center for the first time since the arena opened in 1996. Colorado has won five of six and remains in second place in the Western Conference.

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New Jersey 3, New York Rangers 1--Petr Sykora scored twice at East Rutherford, N.J., and New Jersey doubled the fun by improving its playoff hopes and hurting New York’s chances.

Martin Brodeur made 24 saves and the Devils won their third in a row. The Rangers have lost eight of 11. New Jersey holds a four-point lead over its cross-river rival in the playoff race. The Devils have played two fewer games.

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Vancouver 4, Atlanta 2--Markus Naslund scored two goals for the Canucks at Atlanta.

Naslund had gone a month without scoring but has three goals in two games since his wife gave birth to their son, Alex.

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Columbus 3, Calgary 1--Ray Whitney had a goal and two assists and Ron Tugnutt made 41 saves at Columbus, Ohio.

It was Whitney’s 16th multipoint game this season. The Blue Jackets are 11-2-3-0 when he has more than a point.

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Dallas 5, Toronto 5--Robert Reichel scored twice for the Maple Leafs at Toronto.

Brenden Morrow scored twice for the Stars, who rallied from 4-3 and 5-4 deficits in the third period after blowing a 3-1 lead.

Ed Belfour replaced Marty Turco in goal after Turco gave up Toronto’s third goal in the second period. Turco, who recently replaced Belfour as the starting goalie, gave up three goals on 22 shots.

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Montreal 3, Carolina 2--Oleg Petrov scored 1:07 into the third period in front of 21,273 at Montreal to give the Canadiens sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Richard Zednik and Craig Rivet also scored for the Canadiens, who ended a four-game winless streak.

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Ottawa 4, New York Islanders 3--Shawn McEachern assisted on each goal by the Senators at Ottawa, Canada.

Curtis Leschyshyn, Todd White, Radek Bonk and former Islander defenseman Zdeno Chara scored to help the Senators beat the Islanders for the seventh consecutive time.

McEachern’s four points gave him 300 in six seasons with Ottawa.

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Edmonton 4, Washington 1--Anson Carter scored two power-play goals and Tommy Salo made 27 saves for the Oilers at Edmonton, Canada.

Carter has 25 goals, one more than his previous career high, in 1998-99 with the Bruins.

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Chicago 2, San Jose 2--Steve Sullivan scored with 38 seconds left in regulation to give Chicago a tie at San Jose.

With Steve Passmore pulled for an extra attacker, Sullivan scored his 20th goal on an assist from Tony Amonte.