Zetterberg, Hasek lift Wings past Avalanche

Colorado's Andrew Brunette tries to scoop the puck past the Red Wings' Dominik Hasek, who got his 80th career shutout.

DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings finally got a lucky bounce.

Henrik Zetterberg's 30th goal broke a scoreless tie with 2:20 left, and Dominik Hasek made 15 saves for his 80th career shutout to lift Detroit to a 2-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche last night.

Kris Draper added an empty-netter with 13 seconds left for league-best Detroit, which won its sixth straight.

Peter Budaj stopped 34 shots for Colorado, and there could have been many more. Red Wing players either misfired or the puck hopped over their sticks on prime scoring chances for almost the entire night.

"We knew we'd eventually score, even if we had to go to a shootout," Zetterberg said.

His goal came on the rebound of an attempted pass out in front as he came around the net. But the puck hit Budaj's stick and came back to Zetterberg, who fired it in.

"I think [Tomas Holmstrom] was in front. So I just tried to throw the puck in front," he said. "I think it went off the goalie's stick. That's just what I was trying to do in that situation: Get the puck in front and get a rebound."

Despite giving up so many shots and scoring chances, the Avalanche didn't give the Red Wings much room.

Colorado is without three of its best offensive players: Captain Joe Sakic (hernia surgery), Ryan Smyth (ankle) and Paul Stastny (appendectomy). So they have no choice but to concentrate on defense.

It was the second time in less than a month that the Avalanche were shut out in Detroit. Hasek got that one as well, 1-0 on Jan. 8.

"That's something you'd expect in the first round of the playoffs," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

An apparent goal by the Avalanche's Milan Hejduk with eight seconds left in the second period was waved off because of incidental contact with Hasek by Colorado defenseman Scott Hannan.

RANGERS 3, DEVILS 1

NEWARK, N.J. - Chris Drury scored two goals, and Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves as New York continued its dominance of New Jersey.

The Rangers have won all five meetings this season between the metropolitan area rivals, and Lundqvist has been a major part of that success. He was in net for all five wins, allowing only five goals.

Thrashers 5, Sabres 4

ATLANTA - Eric Perrin, Atlanta's fourth shooter, beat Jocelyn Thibault with a fake before scoring in the shootout to lift Atlanta.

Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg stopped shots by Ales Kotalik, Derek Roy, Clarke MacArthur and Thomas Vanek in the shootout.

Panthers 4, Canucks 3

SUNRISE, Fla. - Nathan Horton scored the only goal in the shootout, and Florida got its first win over Vancouver in more than eight years.

Taylor Pyatt, Alexander Edler, and Daniel Sedin missed shots for Vancouver in the shootout. Stephen Weiss missed for Florida, which didn't need a third attempt after the Canucks' three misses.

BLUES 1, DUCKS 0

ST. LOUIS - Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes scored on the first two rounds of a shootout, while Manny Legace stopped Anaheim's first two chances, giving St. Louis the victory.

Legace, the Blues' lone representative in the All-Star Game, made 30 saves through overtime and then handled Ryan Getzlaf and Todd Bertuzzi in the shootout for his fourth shutout of the season.