Hull Gets His 700th Goal

It was a relief for everyone, from the guy with 700 career goals to the guy with two.

Brett Hull became the sixth player in NHL history to score 700 goals as the Red Wings beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-4, on Monday night at Detroit. The Red Wings ended a six-game winless streak (0-4-2).

Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801), Marcel Dionne (731), Phil Esposito (717) and Mike Gartner (708) are the others in the 700-goal club. Only Gretzky got there quicker than Hull.

Patrick Boileau beat Evgeny Nabokov high to the stick side from the right circle for his second career goal with 2:37 remaining to win it.

“I’m only 698 behind,” joked Boileau, a journeyman who has spent most of the season with Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League.

Hull’s big goal was a one-time wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle that slipped through Nabokov’s pads. Pavel Datsyuk set up Hull for the goal with a cross-ice pass.

“It’s big that we won,” said Hull. “The last thing I wanted to do was get this goal down 4-0. I wanted it to be in a win.”

Hull, the son of Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, went seven games without scoring after reaching 699. He had a huge smile on his face as his teammates jumped off the bench to celebrate with him.

When asked if his accomplishment has sunk in yet, Hull said: “I think so. It’s been seven games, so I think it has.”

Kris Draper, Brendan Shanahan and Henrik Zetterberg got the other Detroit goals.

Mark Smith, Brad Stuart, Owen Nolan and Scott Thornton scored for San Jose.

Stuart’s power-play goal 1:13 into the second period gave San Jose a 2-1 lead. His slap shot from the point deflected off the stick of Detroit’s Mathieu Dandenault and past goalie Manny Legace.

But Detroit capitalized on two penalties assessed at the same time.

Vincent Damphousse was called for holding Shanahan, and before the Sharks could get control of the puck for play to stop, Dan McGillis pulled down Hull and was called for holding.

Both players went to the penalty box with 5:06 left in the period. Shanahan tied the score 18 seconds later when he slammed a loose puck into an empty net. And exactly two minutes after the penalties, Hull gave the Red Wings a 3-2 lead with No. 700.

“He’s a great player ... it’s a great goal for him,” Nabokov said. “It’s not a great goal for us.”

Hull’s first goal came on Nov. 13, 1986, as a member of the Calgary Flames. Nabovov was 12 years old at that time.

Vancouver 2, Chicago 1 -- Markus Naslund’s league-leading 37th goal early in the third period lifted the Canucks at Vancouver, Canada.

Trent Klatt scored in the second period and Dan Cloutier made 23 saves as Vancouver extended its unbeaten streak to seven games.

Mark Bell spoiled Cloutier’s shutout bid with 42 seconds left, but the Blackhawks failed to catch the Mighty Ducks for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Chicago wrapped up a seven-game road trip with a 2-4-1 record and has only two wins in its last 11 games overall.

Minnesota 1, Philadelphia 0 -- Manny Fernandez, making his first start since missing 13 games because of an injured right knee, got his seventh career shutout at Philadelphia.

Fernandez turned away 30 shots. The Wild tied a franchise record with its 12th road victory of the season.

In his first shutout of the season, Fernandez was rarely tested.

A tenacious Minnesota defense helped send the Flyers to their eighth shutout loss of the season, the most since they were blanked eight times in 1969-70.

Pascal Dupuis scored the only goal at 14:11 of the first period.

Flyer goaltender Roman Cechmanek faced only 19 shots.