Red Wings’ Legace Supports His Case

Manny Legace made 27 saves, and Pavel Datsyuk and Mathieu Schneider scored to lift the Red Wings over the Colorado Avalanche, 2-0, Saturday at Detroit.

Legace has become Detroit’s No. 1 goalie because of injuries to Curtis Joseph and Dominik Hasek, but the Red Wings have not said who will start when the playoffs begin.

Joseph has played in 122 playoff games and Hasek, who is out for the season, has 97 games of postseason experience. Legace played only 11 minutes in one playoff game.

“When you have some of the best goalies in the world, it’s hard to go with a guy that has never played under the pressure cooker,” Legace said. “But I want to make it hard on the people making the decisions.”

An MRI exam of Joseph’s right ankle revealed that a small piece of cartilage pulled away from a bone, General Manager Ken Holland said.

Ottawa 2, Toronto 2 -- Bryan McCabe scored the tying goal midway through the third period to give Toronto a tie at home.

Toronto forward Owen Nolan had to be helped off the ice after injuring his right knee, and Ottawa goalie Patrick Lalime left after six minutes because of a sore left knee.

Vancouver 3, Dallas 2 -- Geoff Sanderson scored the tying goal midway through the third period, and Brendan Morrison clinched a playoff spot for the Canucks 40 seconds into overtime at Vancouver, Canada.

The Canucks won consecutive games for the first time in a month.

Boston 3, Montreal 2 -- Sergei Samsonov’s second goal of the game with 27 seconds left in overtime lifted the host Bruins, who played in an NHL-record 29th overtime game this season. The Canadiens did clinch a playoff spot.

Tampa Bay 4, Washington 1 -- Vincent Lecavalier scored two goals at Tampa, Fla., to help the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning stay tied with Detroit for the overall NHL lead.

Carolina 3, New York Islanders 2 -- Rookie defenseman Allan Rourke ended Rick DiPietro’s shutout streak at 145 minutes 40 seconds with a goal -- his first in the NHL -- in the first period at Uniondale, N.Y.

St. Louis 4, Chicago 3 -- Bryce Salvador scored 1:50 into overtime, and Doug Weight earned his 600th career assist with the host Blues, who have won an NHL-leading 11 games in overtime.

New York Rangers 3, Philadelphia 1 -- Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist at Philadelphia, and Stephen Valiquette, in his first NHL start in nearly four years, had 38 saves to help the Rangers end an eight-game losing streak.

Buffalo 2, Pittsburgh 2 -- Konstantin Koltsov’s goal late in the second period helped Pittsburgh rally at home and damage the Sabres’ slim playoff hopes.

Atlanta 3, Florida 0 -- Kari Lehtonen stopped 30 shots at Sunrise, Fla., to earn his first NHL shutout, and Atlanta set franchise season records with 32 victories and 76 points.

Columbus 3, Nashville 2 -- Tyler Wright scored 2:03 into overtime to extend the Predators’ home winless skid to five in a row.