Roy Becomes First to Blank Coyotes

Patrick Roy stopped 28 shots as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-0, Sunday night at Phoenix to end the 65-game run of the last team in the NHL to avoid a shutout this season.

Joe Sakic had two assists, moving into a tie with Jaromir Jagr for the league scoring race, and the Avalanche added two more points for to their NHL-best 94 to move five ahead of St. Louis and Detroit.

Scott Parker, Shjon Podein, Alex Tanguay, Chris Drury and Peter Forsberg scored for the Avalanche, who won for the fifth time in six games.

The Coyotes played well, stopping the Avalanche’s strong power play six times before Drury made it 4-0 on a power-play goal with 9:01 remaining.

But goalie Robert Esche faced 43 shots, and his teammates were unable to solve Roy as Phoenix went winless for the fifth consecutive game.

“Our penalty killers did a tremendous job again, but we just put ourselves in a predicament where we couldn’t progress,� Phoenix forward Landon Wilson said.

Roy, who won his league-high 33rd game, recorded his fourth shutout of the season and the 52nd of his career, moving past Rogie Vachon and David Kerr for 17th on the career list.

Dallas 4, Buffalo 1--Jere Lehtinen and Ted Donato scored first-period goals during a span 1:02 to help the Stars increase their lead in the Pacific Division with a victory at Dallas.

Mike Modano added a short-handed goal and an assist, and Mike Keane scored a goal as the Stars moved three points ahead of idle San Jose.

Darryl Sydor matched his career high with three assists, and Ed Belfour had 19 saves for Dallas.

The victory was muted by the news that Joe Nieuwendyk, the Stars’ second-leading goal-scorer, might be sidelined the remainder of the regular season because of a groin injury. Nieuwendyk has 24 goals and 45 points in 62 games this season.

Nashville 5, New York Rangers 2--Randy Robitaille scored two third-period goals and had two assists, and Cliff Ronning added two goals and one assist as the Predators won at Nashville.

Robitaille, recalled by the Predators from the minor leagues March 1, broke the game open in the third period. At 2:21, he fired a wrist shot from the blue line that went through traffic and past New York goaltender Kirk McLean.

At the 9:04 mark, Robitaille skated in from the right circle, took a pass from Ronning and scored on a wrist shot from the slot.

New Jersey 6, Tampa Bay 0--Jason Arnott, Petr Sykora and Scott Gomez each scored two goals, and Martin Brodeur earned his seventh shutout of the season in the Devils’ easy victory at East Rutherford, N.J.

Brodeur made only 15 saves and was never under serious pressure as he recorded his 49th career shutout. He improved to 20-4-2 lifetime against Tampa Bay, including four shutouts.

Carolina 6, Chicago 3--Sandis Ozolinsh had three goals and an assist in the Hurricanes’ comeback victory over the Blackhawks at Chicago.

Jeff O’Neill, Martin Gelinas and Kevin Hatcher also connected for Carolina, which scored four consecutive goals in third period.

Minnesota 4, Vancouver 3--Aaron Gavey scored his second goal of the game 2:26 into overtime as the Wild snapped a six-game winless streak with a victory over the Canucks at Vancouver.

Vancouver goalie Dan Cloutier stopped Stacy Roest’s overtime slap shot from the left circle, but defenseman Mattias Ohlund cleared the rebound right to Gavey in the slot. The Wild center then scored into an empty net.