DETROIT — While many are impressed with the Detroit Red Wings, their captain, Steve Yzerman, refuses to get caught up in the hoopla.
Igor Larionov and Brendan Shanahan scored less than two minutes apart early in the third period as the Red Wings beat Colorado 3-1 to extend their home unbeaten streak to six games.
Detroit avenged last month's 4-1 loss at home to the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"They're still the top team in the league, despite our record," said Yzerman, who assisted on the final goal. "You'd like to play the top teams with their top players because that makes you better. They're missing about five guys."
The Avalanche were without goaltender Patrick Roy, who missed a second straight game with the flu. Among the other Avalanche players out were: Alex Tanguay (ankle), Stephane Yelle (knee), Adam Foote (knee) and Peter Forsberg, who hasn't played at all this season because of various injuries.
Roy's backup, David Aebischer, started strong, but was unable to hold off the league's highest-scoring team.
Penguins 4, Rangers 1
Pittsburgh Alexei Kovalev scored three goals, the final two less than a minute apart in the third period, and Pittsburgh shrugged off Eric Lindros' return to beat New York.
Blues 5, Stars 2
St. Louis Cory Stillman scored three goals, and Doug Weight added four assists, leading St. Louis over Dallas.
Bruins 7, Capitals 4
Boston Joe Thornton had three goals, and the Boston Bruins remained almost perfect when he scores and beat the Washington Capitals. The Bruins, who won for the seventh time in nine games, are 13-0-1 when Thornton get a goal.
Leafs 3, Senators 1
Toronto Alexander Mogilny and Darcy Tucker scored power-play goals, and Ottawa had a franchise-low 10 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Senators. Mike Fisher scored a short-handed goal for the Senators, whose previous low was 11 shots on Dec 30, 1993 against Tampa Bay.
Devils 2, Hurricanes 1
Raleigh, N.C. Petr Sykora scored twice in a span of five minutes in the second period and Martin Brodeur stopped 22 of 23 shots as New Jersey beat Carolina. Southeast Division-leading Carolina has lost two straight at home after a franchise-record 20 points in December.
Kings 3, Islanders 0
Uniondale, N.Y. Eric Belanger scored twice in the third period and former Islanders goalie Felix Potvin stopped 28 shots against his old team as Los Angeles blanked New York.
Canadiens 4, Flames 2
Calgary, Alberta Doug Gilmour scored the go-ahead goal 3:43 into the third period as Montreal ended a four-game losing streak with a victory over Calgary. Gilmour, playing his second game since coming back from a back injury that sidelined him for the first three games of Montreal's seven-game road trip, also had an assist to pass Guy Lafleur for 16th place on the NHL's career scoring list with 1,354 points.
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