Gretzky Scores; Blues Tie

NHL

His innate sense of timing intact on a nerve-wracking night, Wayne Gretzky made his debut with the St. Louis Blues and did what he does best - score.

“I’m nervous, I make no bones about it,” Gretzky told ESPN2 before the third period of Thursday night’s game with the Canucks at Vancouver. “But it’s a good nervous. I’m pretty excited about it.”

With hockey finally replacing hoopla, the sport’s most prolific scorer joined good friend Brett Hull and Shayne Corson on a line that has the goal-hungry Blues dreaming of the Stanley Cup.

They produced quick results, but the Blues had to settle for a 2-2 tie.

Breakaways are not Gretzky’s strong suit. However, he had a clean trip to the net at 16:24 of the first period to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

“I knew I was not going to make any mistake,” Gretzky said. “I felt pretty happy about it.”

Dashing up the middle just ahead of Vancouver’s Martin Gelinas, Gretzky flipped the puck over goalie Kirk McLean, who was in net on March 23, 1994, when Gretzky broke Gordie Howe’s career scoring record with his 802nd goal.

Gretzky picked up a pass at center ice from Stephane Matteau and took off straight at McLean. Hull also assisted on the historic goal, Gretzky’s 16th of the season.

The sellout crowd of 18,422 at first booed, then cheered their countryman, then booed again when the goal was announced.

As for Gretzky, he pumped his arms and smiled broadly, a burden seemingly lifted.

Gretzky’s very first NHL goal in 1979 also came against the Canucks, who were reduced to being also-rans in their own building on a night all the attention went to the visitors.

Alex Mogilny reached a milestone with his 50th goal on a power play at 13:19 of the second period, and his 51st goal tied the game 2-2 at 14:46 of the third. He joins Pavel Bure as the only two Canucks to record 50-goal seasons. Gretzky was not on the ice for either goal.

St. Louis led 1-0 on Al MacInnis’ goal with a man-advantage at 13:40 of the first period.

Gretzky’s jersey bore a ‘C’ signifying his status as the Blues’ new captain, a role Corson happily yielded.

Blues 2, Canucks 2

St. Louis 2 0 0 0 - 2

Vancouver 0 1 1 0 - 2

First period - 1, St. Louis, MacInnis 13 (Hawerchuk, Creighton), 13:40 (pp). 2, St. Louis, Gretzky 16 (Matteau, Hull), 16:24.

Second periodMogilny 50 (Lumme, Linden), 13:19 (pp).

Third period - Vancouver, Mogilny 51 (Ronning, Tikkanen), 14:46.

Overtime-NonePower-play opp.-St. Louis 1 of 5; Vancouver 1 of 7.

Goalies-St. Louis, Fuhr 26-21-12 (38 shots-36 saves). Vancouver, McLean 12-14-9 (21-19).

A-18,422 (18,422).

Red Wings 5, Islanders 1

Detroit

Nicklas Lidstrom and Dino Ciccarelli both had a goal and an assist in a four-goal second-period flurry that carried Detroit to a win over New York.

Doug Brown and Bob Errey also scored during the outburst and Vladimir Konstantinov added a third-period goal. The Red Wings took their 12th straight home victory and beat the Islanders for the second time in three nights.

Zigmund Palffy scored his team-leading 26th goal for the Islanders, who lost 6-2 at home Tuesday to Detroit.

Goalie Chris Osgood stopped 23 shots for his league-leading 31st win of the season. Osgood has won a career-best nine straight games.

The Red Wings, just four points short of 100 for the season, won their fifth straight and ninth in their last 11. The 12-game home winning streak is their second of the season, and they’re 27-2-2 overall at Joe Louis Arena.

N.Y. Islanders 1 0 0 - 1

Detroit 0 4 1 - 5

First period-1, New York, Palffy 26 (McCabe), 18:47. Second period-2, Detroit, Brown 7 (Primeau, Taylor), 5:30. 3, Detroit, Lidstrom 12 (Ciccarelli, Johnson), 9:30. 4, Detroit, Errey 10 (Yzerman, Bergevin), 12:06 (sh). 5, Detroit, Ciccarelli 13 (Coffey, Lidstrom), 15:51. Third period-6, Detroit, Konstantinov 9 (Fedorov, Larionov), 13:32.

Shots on goal-New York 6-6-13-25. Detroit 11-13-13-37.Power-play opp.-New York 0 of 2; Detroit 0 of 4.Goalies-New York, Soderstrom 10-16-6 (37 shots-32 saves). Detroit, Osgood 31-5-3 (25-24).A-19,983 (19,875).

Panthers 2, Capitals 2

Miami

Dale Hunter’s goal with 17 seconds left in the third period lifted Washington into a tie with Florida. Hunter shoved in a loose puck in front of the net with the clock winding down.

In overtime, the Capitals had a superb chance for victory, but goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck denied Kelly Miller in the final minute.

Rob Niedermayer scored both goals for Florida, his 22nd and 23rd. Washington’s Andrew Brunette scored his first NHL goal in the first period.

Olaf Kolzig stopped the first penalty shot in Florida’s three-year history. Mike Hough took the shot at 10:56 of the second period, but Kolzig stopped it with his right foot.

Washington 1 0 1 0 - 2

Florida 2 0 0 0 - 2

First period - 1, Florida, Niedermayer 22 (Svehla, Woolley), 3:03 (pp). 2, Washington, Brunette 1 (Cote, Pivonka), 13:30. 3, Florida, Niedermayer 23 (Garpenlov, Mellanby), 19:31.

Second period - None.

Third period - Washington, Hunter 8 (Konowalchuk, Juneau), 19:43. Overtime-NonePower-play opp.-Washington 0 of 9; Florida 1 of 7.

Goalies-Washington, Kolzig 4-7-2 (31 shots-29 saves). Florida, Vanbiesbrouck 20-12-6 (32-30).

A-12,183 (14,503).

Blackhawks 4, Avalanche 3

Chicago

Murray Craven scored with seven minutes remaining to snap a tie and help Chicago end a three-game losing streak with a win over Colorado.

Jeremy Roenick, Gary Suter and Tony Amonte also connected for the Hawks, who had dropped three consecutive one-goal decisions, two in overtime.

In winning the first game of a home-and-home series between the second- and third-place teams in the Western Conference, the Hawks also halted Colorado’s five-game winning streak.

Defenseman Adam Foote had a power-play goal and set up the other two other Colorado tallies, by Chris Simon and Valeri Kamensky.

Colorado 1 2 0 - 3

Chicago 2 0 2 - 4

First period-1, Chicago, Roenick 30, 4:51 (sh). 2, Colorado, Simon 9 (Foote, Gusarov), 6:32 (pp). 3, Chicago, Suter 17 (Savard), 18:41 (pp). Second period-4, Colorado, Foote 5 (Young, Gusarov), 7:31 (pp). 5, Colorado, Kamensky 30 (Foote, Forsberg), 11:47. Third period-6, Chicago, Amonte 22 (Roenick, Nicholls), 6:43. 7, Chicago Craven 14 (Daze, Savard), 13:00.

Shots on goal-Colorado 12-10-8-30. Chicago 10-15-7-32.Power-play opp.-Colorado 2 of 5; Chicago 1 of 4.Goalies-Colorado, Roy 13-10-1 (32 shots-28 saves). Chicago, Hackett 17-6-3 (30-27).A-21,723 (20,500).