Avalanche Pads Its Lead With Victory at Detroit

Shjon Podein and Ray Bourque scored goals in the final 2:27, and the Colorado Avalanche held off the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3, Saturday at Detroit in a matchup of the NHL’s two best teams.

Colorado extended its lead over Detroit to six points--103 to 97--in the race for the league’s top record and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

Defenseman Jiri Fischer cut Detroit’s deficit to 3-2 early in the third period, scoring his first NHL goal on a rebound of Vyacheslav Kozlov’s shot.

Podein then jammed the puck past goalie Chris Osgood at 17:33 for a 4-2 lead. But Colorado’s two-goal advantage was cut in half 35 seconds later when Pat Verbeek scored after knocking the puck out of the air in front of the goal.

The Red Wings pulled Osgood with a minute to play, but Bourque scored into an empty net at 19:42.

Toronto 5, Florida 3--Former King Aki Berg’s first goal of the season was the eventual winner at Sunrise, Fla., as the Maple Leafs overcame Pavel Bure’s fourth hat trick of the season.

Tampa Bay 5, Pittsburgh 1--The Lightning scored two short-handed goals and Kevin Weekes, unhappy with the team’s decision to give Nikolai Khabibulin a four-year contract, gave up only a goal to Mario Lemieux while stopping 25 shots at Tampa, Fla.

Philadelphia 2, New York Rangers 1--Flyer goalie Roman Cechmanek made three key saves on two-on-one breakaways in the third period, and Dan McGillis scored the go-ahead goal late in the second at Philadelphia.

New Jersey 6, Edmonton 5--Patrik Elias scored three goals, including the winner with nine seconds to play in overtime at Edmonton, Canada.

Boston 3, Montreal 2--Sergei Samsonov scored two first-period goals and Eric Weinrich added a power-play goal against his former team as the Bruins defeated the Canadiens at Montreal.

Buffalo 3, Washington 2--Martin Biron stopped 42 shots in a rare start and Chris Gratton scored the tiebreaking goal with 10:34 remaining as the Sabres defeated the Capitals at Washington.

Nashville 4, Phoenix 1--Mike Dunham made 30 saves and Patric Kjellberg had a goal and an assist in the Predators’ victory at Nashville.

Calgary 2, St. Louis 2--Jarome Iginla scored with 5.4 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Flames a tie at Calgary, Canada.

New York Islanders 3, Columbus 3--Dave Scatchard and Bill Muckalt scored third-period goals as the Islanders rallied for a tie at Columbus, Ohio.

Around the League

Dallas defensemen Sami Helenius and Darryl Sydor will be ready to play today against Ottawa despite being cut on the head by skate blades in separate injuries during Friday night’s 1-1 tie with Phoenix. Helenius’ cut, which needed 30 stitches to close, was so deep medical personnel could see his skull.