Detroit Moves Closer to Top

It wasn’t too long ago that the Detroit Red Wings thought they’d lost sight of the St. Louis Blues atop the Western Conference standings. Now they have the Blues squarely in their sights.

Sergei Fedorov got his 300th goal and Detroit scored for times in the third period Wednesday night as the Red Wings dampened the Vancouver Canucks’ playoff chances with a 6-3 victory at Detroit.

Steve Duchesne had two goals for the Red Wings, who moved within a point of St. Louis for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference. The Blues, who play host to the Red Wings on Saturday, have two games in hand.

“I guess there’s a chance we could catch them,” said Brendan Shanahan, who had two assists for Detroit. “But at the same time our focus is on playing our best hockey.”

Detroit has won four in a row and is 5-1-1 in its last seven games.

The loss ended a two-game winning streak for Vancouver, which was 5-1 in in its last six games. The Canucks trail the San Jose Sharks for the final Western playoff spot with five games remaining.

Toronto 3, St. Louis 2--Jonas Hoglund and Steve Thomas each had a goal and an assist and Mats Sundin set up three goals at St. Louis.

The loss was the first for the Blues this season against a team from Canada, dropping their record to 13-1-3. No U.S.-based team has gone undefeated in a season against Canadian teams.

Dallas 4, Florida 1--Scott Thornton scored two goals and Ed Belfour stopped 36 shots at Sunrise, Fla., as the Stars clinched their fourth consecutive Pacific Division title.

Colorado 3, Edmonton 2--Eric Messier scored his first goal in 34 games and Joe Sakic extended his point streak to a career-high 14 games with two assists for the Avalanche at Denver.

Phoenix 3, Atlanta 2--Dallas Drake knocked in a rebound with 7:21 to play at Atlanta as the Coyotes ended a seven-game losing streak.

Carolina 3, Nashville 1--Marek Malik, Ron Francis and Andrei Kovalenko each scored for the Hurricanes at Raleigh, N.C.

Montreal 4, Boston 3--Sergei Zholtok scored the winning goal with 15 seconds to play at Montreal.