Shanahan Milestone Powers Red Wings

Over the previous eight games, Brendan Shanahan had seven assists.

On Saturday, he got the elusive goal.

Shanahan scored his 500th career goal, breaking a scoreless tie at 7:48 of the third period, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Avalanche, 2-0, Saturday at Denver to clinch the top spot in the Western Conference.

Dominik Hasek had 31 saves in earning his 61st career shutout, best among active goalies.

Shanahan’s power-play goal came on a two-man advantage after Colorado’s Alex Tanguay and Adam Foote had gone off on holding-the-stick and slashing penalties, respectively.

Shanahan took Nicklas Lidstrom’s pass and beat Patrick Roy from the left circle.

“My first NHL goal was pretty exciting, and it’s nice to get the 500th,” Shanahan said. “In my six years here, I don’t know how many goals Nick has given me like that.

“I’m glad it wasn’t a cheap goal. Patrick Roy is one of the best goaltenders to ever play, and I have a lot of respect for him.”

Detroit’s leading scorer this season, Shanahan recorded his 34th goal of the season. The 500-goal milestone already has been reached by 29 other players, including Detroit teammates Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman and Luc Robitaille.

Colorado, which dropped its third consecutive game, has scored only eight goals in its last six games, during which it has been shut out three times.

“Obviously, we’re not scoring goals,” Colorado captain Joe Sakic said. “We need to turn things around if we want to make a run at it [Stanley Cup], because we aren’t going too far if we keep this up.”

In one of the NHL’s top rivalries pitting the league’s two best records, a fight erupted two minutes after Shanahan’s goal.

Roy exchanged punches with Detroit’s Kirk Maltby after Maltby had fallen into the net.

Hasek came down the ice and appeared to slip, upending Roy from behind.

Detroit’s Sean Avery and Colorado’s Pascal Trepanier also traded blows.

The result was a Colorado power play, but the Avalanche couldn’t capitalize.

Five penalties resulted from the fight, including two minutes to Roy for roughing and two minutes to Hasek for leaving the crease.

Roy was upset with Maltby, saying, “What I didn’t like is he tried to take my knee out. It was clear to me. Normally a guy will hit me in front.

“I thought it was not an accident. I thought he really meant to hurt me.”

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Washington 5, Columbus 2--Ulf Dahlen scored his second goal and Jaromir Jagr had another 18 seconds later in the third period as the Capitals won at Columbus, Ohio.

Columbus had come back from a two-goal deficit to tie it on Jody Shelley’s goal 7:29 into the third period, but the Capitals recovered.

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Nashville 5, Montreal 1--Jukka Hentunen made the most of his debut for the Predators at Nashville with a goal and an assist in a victory over the Canadiens.

Hentunen, traded to the Predators last week, had been on injured reserve for the Calgary Flames after undergoing knee surgery in January.

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Toronto 2, Buffalo 0--Corey Schwab made 20 saves for his first shutout of the season and Tie Domi scored as the Maple Leafs won at Toronto.

Schwab is 5-2-4 since replacing injured starting goalie Curtis Joseph. Schwab didn’t have to make any spectacular saves, but was steady throughout.

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Atlanta 3, Ottawa 2--Dany Heatley scored at 1:41 of overtime at Ottawa and Frederic Cassivi made 50 saves in only his second NHL start as the Thrashers defeated the Senators.

Heatley, who also had an assist, stuffed a rebound past Senator goaltender Martin Prusek, who was making his NHL regular-season debut.

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Carolina 4, New Jersey 2--Defenseman Sean Hill scored with 4:15 left and the Hurricanes having two extra players as they won at East Rutherford, N.J.

Jeff O’Neill had an empty-net goal and Arturs Irbe stopped all 12 New Jersey shots in the third period as Carolina handed the Devils only their sixth loss in 21 games.

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Boston 3, Florida 1--Mike Knuble scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Glen Murray scored one into an empty-net for the Bruins at Sunrise, Fla.

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Philadelphia 4, Pittsburgh 4--Alexei Kovalev scored twice in the third period at Pittsburgh as the Penguins, trying to keep alive their flickering playoff hopes, rallied for the tie. Pittsburgh is eight points out of a playoff berth.

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New York Islanders 2, Minnesota 1--Mark Parrish scored his 28th goal of the season with 4:07 left at Uniondale, N.Y., to help the Islanders take sole possession of sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

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Edmonton 3, Calgary 1--Mike York, Mike Grier and Eric Brewer scored first-period goals at Edmonton, Canada for the Oilers, who also got 34 saves from Tommy Salo.