Forsberg Simply Too Tricky for Calgary

Peter Forsberg scored three goals, Alex Tanguay and Greg de Vries each had two assists and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2, Sunday night at Denver.

The Avalanche, extending its unbeaten streak to nine (7-0-2), moved ahead of Minnesota into second place in the Northwest Division. With 64 points, the surging Avalanche also has the fifth-best record in the Western Conference.

Backup goaltender David Aebischer had 38 saves for Colorado.

Forsberg, scoring on his first three shots, had the sixth hat trick of his career and second of the season. It also was Colorado’s second hat trick in as many games. Milan Hejduk had one in Saturday’s 5-3 win over Detroit.

Forsberg got the hat trick at 18:02 of the second period after stealing the puck from Jarome Iginla in the Colorado zone and scoring on a breakaway. He missed an empty net in the closing seconds for what would have been his first four-goal game.

New Jersey 3, Minnesota 2 -- Martin Brodeur made NHL history at East Rutherford, N.J., stopping 19 shots for his league-leading 30th win of the season. He has won 30 games for the eighth consecutive season, a feat no other goaltender has accomplished.

Brodeur gave up two goals but also made several good stops. He made a sprawling glove save on Andrei Zyuzin midway through the second period, then kicked aside three shots in the final 32 seconds to preserve the victory.

Montreal 2, Washington 0 -- Mathieu Garon made 25 saves at Washington in his first start of the season and the Canadiens ended their four-game losing streak.

It was the third shutout of Garon’s career and first since Jan. 12, 2001, against Atlanta. It also was Montreal’s first shutout since beating the New York Islanders, 3-0, in November.

Jaromir Jagr failed to score a point for the first time in six games for Washington, which was shut out for the first time since a 2-0 loss to San Jose on Dec. 14, 2002.