Hull lifts Wings to overtime win

Boos and debris rained down on the ice. This wasn't the ending Colorado's fans wanted in a matchup of the NHL's two best teams and biggest rivals.

Brett Hull scored 57 seconds into overtime after two Colorado players were hit with penalties at the end of regulation, leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche last night in Denver.

Detroit had a two-man advantage to start overtime after Steve Konowalchuk and Adam Foote were called for four-minute high-sticking penalties with 1.6 seconds left. Although NHL overtimes are played four-on-four, in this case the Red Wings were given a five-on-three edge to begin the period.

The crowd booed throughout the overtime and started throwing bottles and cups on the ice after Hull's hard shot from the top of the right circle went in over David Aebischer's right shoulder.

Maple Leafs 5, Senators 4 -- Toronto erased a four-goal deficit and beat host Ottawa on Owen Nolan's overtime goal. Nolan slapped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle to the right of goaltender Patrick Lalime. The puck lodged in the short side of the net with 30.7 seconds to go in the five-minute overtime.

Mats Sundin's goal with 5:03 remaining in the third period tied it, 4-4. Lalime was faked out of his crease by Tomas Kaberle, who then set up Sundin for a shot into the vacated net.

Sharks 5, Coyotes 0 -- All-Star Patrick Marleau scored his team-leading 23d goal as host San Jose won its fourth straight home game, over Phoenix. Alyn McCauley, Scott Hannan, Alexander Korolyuk, and Marco Sturm also scored for the Pacific Division-leading Sharks, who beat Phoenix for the third time (with one tie) in five meetings.

Evgeni Nabokov needed just 20 saves to record his second straight shutout, and third in four home games.

Lightning 5, Predators 2 -- Pavel Kubina, Dan Boyle, and Ben Clymer scored second-period goals and Cory Stillman added three assists, leading Tampa Bay to victory in Nashville. Denis Arkhipov kept Nashville in the game by scoring twice in the second period. Martin Erat and Vladimir Orszagh added two assists each for Nashville, and Martin St. Louis had two assists for Tampa Bay. The Lightning won their 15th road game, surpassing last year's total.

Flyers 5, Thrashers 1 -- Antero Niittymaki had 20 saves in the second start of his NHL career, helping visiting Philadelphia beat Atlanta. Simon Gagne, Mark Recchi, Sami Kapanen, and Tony Amonte scored in the second period for the Flyers, 5-0-1 in their last six road games.

Canadiens 2, Islanders 1 -- Rookie Michael Ryder scored the winning goal midway into the third period, lifting host Montreal over New York. Ryder, selected to play in tomorrow's YoungStars game during the All-Star weekend in St. Paul, scored his 15th goal with a shot from the right side that went in off goalie Garth Snow's glove.

Canucks 4, Devils 0 -- Brothers Henrik and Daniel Sedin set up goals for each other as Vancouver cruised in East Rutherford, N.J. Dan Cloutier stopped 24 shots in his third shutout of the season and Brendan Morrison and Trevor Linden added power-play goals. The Canucks head into the NHL All-Star break with six wins in eight games.

Blues 2, Flames 1 -- St. Louis snapped an eight-game winless streak when Scott Mellanby's goal with 4:15 remaining beat host Calgary.