For the Record, Avalanche Wins

Colorado’s ninth division title was easily its most difficult.

Milan Hejduk scored his 50th goal of the season -- tops in the league -- and Peter Forsberg had a goal and two assists to win the scoring title as the Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2, Sunday at Denver for a record ninth consecutive division title.

Colorado trailed Vancouver by 13 points after a 4-2 to loss to Detroit on Jan. 16, but stormed back with 25 wins in its final 37 games.

The Avalanche moved a point ahead of Vancouver in the Northwest Division by earning a point in its 17th consecutive home game (14-0-2-1).

Hejduk became the fourth player in team history to reach 50 goals, joining Michel Goulet (four), Joe Sakic (two), and Jacques Richard.

Hejduk scored with 5:38 left, becoming the first Avalanche player to lead the league in goals.

Forsberg, who had an empty-net goal with 55 seconds left, closed the season with 11 goals and 37 assists in the final 28 games to become the first player in club history to win the scoring title with 106 points.

Dallas 2, Nashville 0 -- Marty Turco got the record and the Stars got the top seeding in the NHL playoffs.

Turco’s seventh shutout of the season lowered his goals-against average to 1.72, lowest in the NHL’s modern era.

Stu Barnes and Ulf Dahlen scored power-play goals at Dallas, enabling the Stars to finish first in the Western Conference with 111 points -- one more than Detroit.

Chicago 4, Detroit 3 -- Tyler Arnason scored 2:10 into overtime at Chicago, denying the Red Wings first place in the Western Conference.

The Red Wings closed the regular season 21-4-1-1 in their last 27 games. The Blackhawks, unbeaten in their last four (2-0-2), finished the season series against Detroit, 3-0-0-2.

Philadelphia 6, Florida 2 -- The Flyers, who ended the regular season with an eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2), set a franchise record with their 24th road victory. The Panthers finished with the worst home record (8-21-7-5) in franchise history.

Atlanta 6, Tampa Bay 2 -- Kamil Piros had a hat trick for his first NHL goals and the Thrashers beat the Lightning at Atlanta. The Thrashers had a franchise-record 31 victories -- nine more than their previous best and 13 more than last season.

New Jersey 2, Buffalo 2 -- Patrik Elias scored a second-period goal to help give the Devils the tie at Buffalo, N.Y. The Devils improved to 6-0-4-1 in their last 11 games -- the only team that has not lost over that stretch.

New York Islanders 2, Carolina 1 -- Arron Asham and Radek Martinek scored and Garth Snow stopped 44 shots for the Islanders at Raleigh, N.C. It was Snow’s 16th victory -- his most since getting 20 for Vancouver in 1998-99.

Minnesota 4, Columbus 3 -- Filip Kuba, Andrew Brunette and Marian Gaborik each had a goal and an assist at St. Paul, Minn.

The playoff-bound Wild finished with 95 points in third place in the Northwest Division. They had 68 in their first year and 73 last season.

San Jose 3, Phoenix 3 -- Rookie Niko Dimitrakos scored his second goal with 7:40 left as the Sharks rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period at San Jose.

Sean Burke made 41 saves as the Coyotes finished their season with a three-game unbeaten streak.