Avs Outlast Coyotes in Shootout

[February 23, 2008]  GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Cody McLeod needed just a little space to make Paul Stastny's return to Colorado's lineup a winner.

Stastny scored in the first period then McLeod notched a goal in the 12th round of the shootout to give the Avalanche a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Friday night, the longest shootout for both teams.

"I just wanted to hit the net," said McLeod, whose wrist shot over Mikael Tellqvist's blocker gave the Avalanche a 3-2 lead in the shootout. "I went in and I'd seen a little opening. I shot and it went in."

Stastny, who missed 15 games following an appendectomy in mid-January, tied it at 1 at 14:08 of the first period. He took a long outlet pass from Jordan Leopold just outside the Phoenix zone and fired a shot from between the circles on net. Tellqvist made the initial save with his blocker, but the long rebound bounced to the left faceoff circle where Stastny scored on a wrist shot.

Phoenix's Derek Morris scored with 2.8 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

"It's huge that we were able to get that extra point," said Phoenix right wing Shane Doan, who had an assist. "We were talking about how desperate we have to be and we came out with a little more desperation."

In other NHL games, it was: Dallas 5, Edmonton 2; Calgary 1, Detroit 0; and Anaheim 2, St. Louis 1, OT.

Marek Svatos scored in regulation, and Tyler Arnason and John-Michael Liles had shootout goals to help the Avalanche snap a five-game winless streak. Colorado also moved one point ahead of Phoenix into ninth place in the Western Conference.

"Obviously we're in the same boat they are," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "Every point's huge. We've lost a lot of ground the last week and a half."

Steven Reinprecht scored, and Joel Perrault and Mike York had shootout goals for the Coyotes, who have lost two straight.

Jose Theodore and Tellqvist each stopped the first five shootout attempts against them.

Arnason recorded the first shootout goal on a sharp wrist shot past Tellqvist. Perrault answered on a wrist shot.

After each goalie stopped the next attempt, Liles scored between Tellqvist's pads. York evened the score moments later on a wrist shot. Three more scoreless rounds followed before McLeod's goal.

"What are you going to do when you have 11 guys shoot?" Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "It is what it is. It's a shootout."

Flames 1, Red Wings 0

Miikka Kiprusoff made 38 saves in his first shutout of the season and Alex Tanguay scored for the host Flames.

Kiprusoff was at his best in the third period as Detroit outshot the Flames 13-2. The Red Wings hit a goalpost twice in the final 20 minutes of Kiprusoff's 25th career shutout.

Detroit dropped to 1-6-1 in its past eight games and first without All-Star defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, who sprained his knee Monday

Stars 5, Oilers 2

Jere Lehtinen scored two goals, Marty Turco stopped 20 shots, and the host Stars completed a sweep of the four-game season series and won for the 10th time in 12 games overall.

Brenden Morrow added a short-handed goal, Loui Eriksson also scored, and Jussi Jokinen had two assists for Dallas. Mike Modano had an empty-net goal, the 524th goal of his career.

Dustin Penner's power-play goal with 12:01 remaining ended Turco's bid for his 33rd career shutout.

Ducks 2, Blues 1, OT

Samuel Pahlsson scored 32 seconds into overtime for the host Ducks.

Pahlsson swiped in a centering pass from the right corner by Rob Niedermayer to lift the Ducks to their eighth win in nine games.

Anaheim rallied after St. Louis forward Ryan Johnson scored to give the Blues a brief 1-0 lead 2:17 into the third period.

Just 1:58 later, Teemu Selanne deflected a slap shot by Mathieu Schneider past St. Louis goalie Manny Legace to draw the Ducks even.

[Associated Press]

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