Larionov Sparks Red Wings

Igor Larionov got things started for the Detroit Red Wings and Brendan Shanahan finished the Montreal Canadiens.

Larionov’s puck-handling was the catalyst to a tremendous shift which resulted in Shanahan’s goal at 15:23 in the second period in the Red Wings’ 2-0 victory over the Canadiens on Friday night at Detroit.

“I always think of him as the Wayne Gretzky of the Russians,” Detroit’s Martin Lapointe said of Larionov. “He just goes out there and he sees what’s going on.”

Chris Osgood stopped 21 shots for his second shutout of the season, Martin Lapointe scored added goal and Anders Eriksson had two assists for the Red Wings.

Colorado 3, Florida 2--Peter Forsberg set up two goals by Valeri Kamensky and another by Joe Sakic to help lead the Avalanche over the Panthers at Miami.

The three assists for Forsberg gave him his 10th multiple-point game of the season.

Vancouver 5, Boston 2--Pavel Bure scored two goals and assisted on Mark Messier’s goal to extend his point-scoring streak to eight games and the Canucks continued their winning streak at Boston.

Bure has six goals and eight assists during that span, and Messier has seven goals and nine assists in his last 13 games.

Philadelphia 4, New York Islanders 1--John LeClair and Chris Gratton each scored two goals and Ron Hextall stopped 26 shots to help the Flyers roll past the Islanders at Philadelphia.

Hextall left with 5:46 remaining because of a strained left thigh muscle. The seriousness of the injury was not known.

Buffalo 3, New York Rangers 3--Pat LaFontaine scored a goal and set up another in his first game against the Sabres since they traded him, helping the Rangers to a tie at Buffalo, N.Y.

LaFontaine set up Tim Sweeney 16 seconds into the game, and gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead with a goal later in the first period.

Carolina 2, Tampa Bay 0--Sami Kapanen broke a scoreless tie at Greensboro, N.C., 13 seconds into the third period on a controversial goal as the Hurricanes extended the Lightning’s road-losing streak to eight games.

Sean Burke earned his 15th career shutout.

New Jersey 4, San Jose 2--Bobby Holik’s two goals highlighted a four-goal rally as the Devils overcame a two-goal deficit in the second period and defeated the Sharks at San Jose.