Good Will to All --Well, Mostly--in Avalanche Tie

Peter Forsberg scored the tying goal with 2:15 left in regulation as the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings skated to a 2-2 tie at Denver on Wednesday night.

Forsberg tied the game when he tipped in a backhander by Claude Lemieux, who had a goal and an assist for Colorado. The Avalanche is now two for 31 on the power play after going 0-5 against the Detroit penalty-killers.

Tomas Holmstrom had given the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 12:05 of the third period. Darren McCarty set up Holmstrom’s third goal with a pass at the blue line.

Holmstrom faked Colorado goaltender Craig Billington to the ice and flipped the puck past Billington’s glove.

Chris Osgood stopped 26 shots for the Red Wings.

Billington made 38 saves, his biggest on Martin Lapointe with two minutes left in overtime. Billington was subbing for the fourth consecutive game for Patrick Roy, sidelined because of an abdominal strain.

The Avalanche and Red Wings have a history of bitter games, including some fierce battles in the playoffs. But Lemieux and McCarty never squared off this time. Instead, they gave way to Colorado defenseman Adam Foote and Shanahan, who had three brief fights that left Foote’s lip bloodied.

Chicago 0, Edmonton 0--Edmonton goaltender Curtis Joseph made 28 saves to earn his third shutout of the season as the Oilers and Blackhawks played to the scoreless tie at Edmonton.

Chicago goalie Jeff Hackett, playing in overtime for the second consecutive night, made 30 stops for his second shutout for the Blackhawks, both on the road.

Edmonton’s only other scoreless tie was Dec. 10, 1996, when Joseph blanked the Red Wings. Chicago last did it with Tony Esposito in net on Dec. 19, 1979, against Pittsburgh.

Tampa Bay 2, Boston 0--Corey Schwab made 31 saves while registering the Lightning’s first shutout this season in the victory over the Bruins at Tampa.

Vladimir Vujtek’s first-period goal and Dino Ciccarelli’s late empty-netter helped Tampa Bay extend its home unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2).

Vancouver 5, Phoenix 1--Pavel Bure had a goal and two assists at Phoenix for the Canucks, who extended the Coyotes’ winless streak to eight games.

Trevor Linden, Gino Odjick, Dana Murzyn and Jyrki Lumme also scored for the Vancouver. Mike Gartner scored for the Coyotes, winless in 10 of their last 11 (1-6-4).

N.Y. Rangers 4, Florida 2--Mike Eastwood scored two goals--his first of the season--and Pat LaFontaine had another game-winner as the struggling Rangers beat the Panthers at Miami to win for only the second time in 13 games.

New York scored three goals in a 4:38 span in the third period to drop the Panthers’ home record to 4-12-3. The Rangers, playing amid reports of a major shake-up, had a 1-7-4 record coming in.

Former Florida captain Brian Skrudland scored New York’s other goal, while Ulf Samuelsson had two assists. Chris Wells and Ray Whitney scored for Florida, which dropped its third in a row.

N.Y. Islanders 4, Buffalo 0--Tommy Salo stopped 28 shots as the Islanders shut out the Sabres at Uniondale, N.Y. for their third consecutive victory.

Robert Reichel had two goals and an assist for the Islanders while Kenny Jonsson and Zigmund Palffy each had a goal and assist in the rough game, marred by 114 penalty minutes.