Red Wings Produce Another Late Show

Ray Whitney has picked up on the Detroit Red Wings’ system fairly quickly: Score the game-winner late.

Whitney broke a 2-2 tie with 1:06 left, scoring his first goal with Detroit to give the Red Wings a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

The Red Wings have won all three games by the same score, scoring either late or in overtime. Steve Yzerman scored with 1.7 seconds left in the opener to beat the Kings, and Detroit beat Ottawa on Saturday when Nicklas Lidstrom scored in overtime.

“Three dramatic wins early in the season gets everybody in the right mode,” said Whitney, signed as a free agent from the Columbus Blue Jackets during the off-season.

Dominik Hasek made 36 saves. He was at his best during a five-minute Vancouver power play in the second period. He made several saves, including a point-blank stop of Todd Bertuzzi on the first shot and a rebound with 9:24 left in the period.

Detroit also got goals from Brendan Shanahan and Lidstrom.

New Jersey 2, Toronto 2 -- Sergei Brylin scored with two seconds left in regulation and the Devils salvaged a tie at East Rutherford, N.J., after raising their Stanley Cup championship banner Thursday night.

Jay Pandolfo also scored for New Jersey, and Martin Brodeur made 12 saves as the Devils remained unbeaten at 1-0-2.

Tampa Bay 5, Phoenix 1 -- Martin St. Louis and Jassen Cullimore scored 25 seconds apart in the second period at Tampa, Fla., and the Lightning spoiled the Coyotes’ bid for their first 4-0 start in franchise history.

St. Louis put the Lightning up, 2-1, during a power play at 8:07. Cullimore made it a two-goal game, scoring from close range at 8:32.

Columbus 2, Chicago 1 -- Rick Nash had a goal and an assist and Marc Denis stopped 30 shots at Columbus, Ohio, to lead the Blue Jackets to their third consecutive victory at home.

Todd Marchant had a goal and Geoff Sanderson had two assists for the Blue Jackets, who are off to a 3-1-0 start.

Atlanta 0, New York Rangers 0 -- Pasi Nurminen stopped 29 shots for the Thrashers, and Ranger counterpart Mike Dunham turned aside 30 at Atlanta.

It was the first scoreless tie in the five-season history of the Thrashers, who are off to their best start ever at 2-0-2. The four-game unbeaten streak matches a franchise high.

Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 1 -- Mike Ribeiro had a goal and two assists, and the Canadiens scored three power-play goals at Montreal to extend their season-opening winning streak to three games.

Ribeiro set up a goal by Richard Zednik late in the second and Jason Ward’s power-play goal in the third.

Colorado 5, Minnesota 2 -- Peter Forsberg had a goal and an assist, and Teemu Selanne scored his first goal for the Avalanche at St. Paul, Minn.

Forsberg scored the first of three second-period goals for the Avalanche, who beat the Wild for the 12th time in 16 regular-season games. John-Michael Liles and Milan Hejduk also scored in the second for the Avalanche.

Nashville 4, St. Louis 1 -- Jordin Tootoo got his first NHL point and Marek Zidlicky scored a power-play goal to lead the Predators at Nashville.

Tootoo, the first person of Inuit descent to play in the league, assisted on Dan Hamhuis’ power-play goal at 10:53 of the second.

Edmonton 4, Buffalo 1 -- Ales Hemsky and Raffi Torres had a goal and an assist each to lead the Oilers at Edmonton, Canada.

Philadelphia 0, San Jose 0 -- Jeff Hackett made 27 saves for the Flyers and Evgeni Nabokov had 26 for the host Sharks at San Jose.