Avalanche Falls on Panthers, 5-4

The Colorado Avalanche played a perfect road game--once it got out of the first period.

Trailing 4-1 after the first 20 minutes, the Avalanche rallied to pull out a 5-4 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers on Friday night at Miami. The Avalanche completed its comeback by scoring three goals within a four-minute span late in the game.

Mike Keane’s backhander 55 seconds into overtime capped a furious rally, giving Colorado the victory.

“This definitely could have been a long game for us,” Keane said. “We could have been down by five or six goals.”

New Jersey 2, Buffalo 2--Backup Sabre goaltender Andrei Trefilov made 39 saves, including 10 in overtime, to preserve a tie at Buffalo.

Rob Ray’s goal in the first period made it 2-2, and that held up for the rest of the game with Trefilov and Devil goalie Martin Brodeur sharp.

Washington 4, Toronto 3--Peter Bondra had two goals and an assist at Landover, Md., to carry the Capitals to their fifth consecutive victory. Jim Carey had 26 saves for the Capitals and got an assist, his first point in 77 NHL games.

Dallas 6, Edmonton 1--Slumping Mike Modano had his first four-goal game as the Stars ended a 10-game home winless streak. Jere Lehtinen had a career-high four assists and Andy Moog stopped 32 shots in his first game since early January for the Stars.

Pittsburgh 1, Winnipeg 0--Jaromir Jagr scored the only goal late in the second period as the Penguins won a hard-fought game at Winnipeg. But the surprise might have been that the Jets held their own against the Northeast Division leaders and peppered goaltender Tom Barrasso in the third, although they couldn’t send it into overtime.

St. Louis 4, Detroit 3--Stephane Matteau’s goal with 55 seconds left culminated a four-goal third period as the Blues rallied at St. Louis. The Blues had tied it on Geoff Courtnall’s goal with 5:20 remaining. Matteau then won it when he swatted the rebound of Igor Kravchuk’s shot past Detroit goalie Mike Vernon.