Friendly Reminder Helps Stars Defeat Avalanche

Guy Carbonneau’s friendship with Patrick Roy gave him an advantage.

“I can say that I knew what Patrick was going to do because of how well I know him,” Carbonneau said after scoring the game-winning goal Saturday at Denver as the Dallas Stars defeated the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2.

“I know that he will keep his position for as long as he can and then drop to the ice.”

Carbonneau broke in on his former Montreal teammate with Juha Lind. Instead of passing, he rifled a shot over Roy’s left shoulder at 11:54 for the game-winner as the Stars won their fourth game in a row.

Roy made 37 saves as Colorado dropped eight points behind the Stars for the best record in the Western Conference.

Detroit 1, Philadelphia 0--Brendan Shanahan’s goal with 3:12 remaining at Detroit enabled the Red Wings to win the first meeting between the teams since they beat the Flyers, 4-0, in the Stanley Cup finals last June.

Chris Osgood, who stopped 20 shots, recorded his fifth shutout of the season and 19th of his career. The victory ended a two-game losing streak, Detroit’s longest of the season.

Pittsburgh 4, Boston 2--Stu Barnes scored twice on set-ups from Jaromir Jagr and the Penguins continued their home-ice domination of the Bruins.

Boston, which managed a 3-3 tie in its previous visit to Pittsburgh on Nov. 29, is 1-18-2 there in its last 21 games, including the playoffs.

New Jersey 3, N.Y. Rangers 3--Bobby Holik scored his second goal of the game at 8:22 of the third period at Madison Square Garden as the Devils extended their regular-season unbeaten streak against the Rangers to seven games.

New Jersey, 3-0-1 against the Rangers this season after losing to them in five games in the playoffs, began the day tied with Philadelphia for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Carolina 4, Montreal 3--The Canadiens, playing without two-thirds of their top line, couldn’t hold off the Hurricanes at Montreal.

Paul Ranheim capped a three-goal third-period comeback as Carolina battled back from a 3-1 deficit.

Montreal missed Saku Koivu, who sat out with a rib injury, and Shayne Corson, who was sidelined by a hip injury.

Chicago 5, St. Louis 4--The Blackhawks, playing before 22,390--the second-largest crowd of the season at the United Center--won their last home game for more than a month.

Chicago begins a six-game road trip on Thursday. Then the NHL takes a 16-day break for the Olympics.

Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 2--Mats Sundin scored twice at Toronto to help the Maple Leafs extend their winning streak to a season-high three games.

The loss was the ninth in a row for the Lightning, the league’s worst team at 9-32-8.

Ottawa 3, N.Y. Islanders 2--Alexei Yashin’s sixth goal in as many games, at 2:02 of the third period at Kanata, Canada, broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Senators their first victory in six games.

Calgary 5, Vancouver 2--James Patrick and German Titov scored in the third period and Marty McInnis capped his first career hat trick in the final minute to lead the Flames at Vancouver.

The Canucks are 0-5-3 in their last eight on the road and have just one win in 16 games since Dec. 17.

Edmonton 5, Phoenix 2--Valeri Zelepukin and Bill Guerin scored 18 seconds apart to key a four-goal second period to help the Oilers win at Phoenix.

Florida 1, San Jose 1--John McLean of the Sharks scored a power-play goal in the third period to tie the score at San Jose.

NHL Notes

Tony Granato of the San Jose Sharks has been suspended by the NHL for high-sticking Edmonton defenseman Dan McGillis during Friday night’s game. Granato sat out Saturday’s game against Florida. The length of the suspension will be decided Monday.