Ricci Scores Twice in Sharks’ Victory

Mike Ricci scored twice for San Jose and his coach thought he could have had more.

Ricci’s two goals spoiled Brett Hull’s 599th career goal as the Sharks beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1, Monday night at Dallas.

“I told him after the game he should have had four or five goals,” Coach Darryl Sutter said.

Ricci said any victory over the defending Stanley Cup champs is special.

“They’re a great hockey team,” Ricci said. “They play a hard, grinding style, and to beat them you’ve got to match that style. You’ve got to beat those teams to have a chance at the playoffs.”

Owen Nolan’s empty-netter with 5.9 seconds left--his 27th goal--clinched the win for the Sharks.

Hull is on the brink of becoming the 12th player in NHL history to score 600 goals.

He is trying to join his father, Bobby, who scored 610. They would become the first father-son combination in the club.

“I know who the people are up there ahead of me,” said Hull of the 11 others. “I idolized some of them, like my father, Phil Esposito, those guys. And I’ve played with and against a lot of them--Wayne Gretzky, Steve Yzerman. I’m going to get there. It’s just a matter of when.”

Colorado 5, St. Louis 1--Joe Sakic scored his 1,000th career point on a second-period assist at Denver, helping the Avalanche keep up their recent dominance over the Blues.

Sakic became the 56th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points and the 14th to do it with one organization.

Colorado now is 6-0-1 against the Blues in the last seven meetings.

Avalanche goalie Marc Denis had 29 saves. St. Louis’ Roman Turek gave up four goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Jamie McLennan midway through the second period.

New Jersey 4, Buffalo 1--Petr Sykora and John Madden scored breakaway goals to spark the Devils at East Rutherford, N.J.

Sykora added a second goal into an empty net with 5.8 seconds remaining to seal the win. Patrik Elias also scored for the Devils who won for the fifth time in eight games (5-2-1).

Florida 6, Tampa Bay 1--Richard Shulmistra stopped 20 shots in his second career start and Pavel Bure extended his club-record point streak to 11 games with two assists at Tampa, Fla.

Cam Stewart and Scott Mellanby each scored twice for Florida. The Panthers have won six in a row against the Lightning, who dropped their sixth consecutive game.

New York Islanders 3, Boston 0--Rookie Roberto Luongo stopped 34 shots for his first shutout, and goals by Mats Lindgren, Bill Muckalt and Niklas Andersson helped the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

With the victory, the Islanders have won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Philadelphia 5, Calgary 1--John LeClair scored twice and added an assist and the Flyers had four third-period goals against Fred Brathwaite at Calgary.

The third-period outburst, including LeClair’s 20th and 21st of the season, came in a 4:46 span against Brathwaite, who entered the game as the NHL-leader in goals-against average (1.91) and save percentage (.932).

Detroit 3, Atlanta 2--Steve Duchesne scored 3:21 into overtime and Steve Yzerman moved into a ninth-place on the NHL career-goals list as the Red Wings won at Detroit.

Duchesne, denied from point-blank range by Thrasher rookie goalie Scott Fankhouser late in the third period, didn’t miss his chance in overtime. He took a pass from Chris Chelios while standing near the right-circle dot and fired a shot that beat Fankhouser on the far side.

Yzerman scored in the first period for his 608th goal, tying him with former teammate Dino Ciccarelli on the NHL list.

Montreal 4, Ottawa 4--Patrice Brisebois scored with 3:45 remaining in the third period and assisted on two goals, helping the injury-plagued Canadiens to a tie at Kanata, Canada.

Former Senator Sergei Zholtok scored twice for the Canadiens, who trailed, 4-2, in the third, and Benoit Brunet added a power-play goal.

Chicago 2, Washington 2--The Capitals blew a late lead and settled for a tie at Washington.

Doug Gilmour scored the tying goal with 6:55 to play, his 12th of the season. Michael Nylander also scored for the Blackhawks. Chris Simon and James Black scored for the Capitals, who welcomed back leading scorer Peter Bondra after an eight-game absence because of a knee injury.