PHILADELPHIA, 21 December 2005 — Maxim Afinogenov scored for Buffalo in an extra shootout round, extending the Sabres’ road winning streak to nine in a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.
With the score tied at 1 after overtime, Peter Forsberg and Buffalo’s Tim Connolly traded goals in the first three shots of the shootout.
Afinogenov slipped one past Antero Niittymaki for the Sabres in the fourth round and Mike Knuble’s chance to tie was off the mark, giving the Sabres their seventh straight overall win. Buffalo’s nine straight road victories are only one shy of the NHL record, set by the Sabres in 1983-84, and matched by St. Louis in 2000 and New Jersey in 2001.
Wild 2 Stars 1: At St. Paul, Minnesota, Marian Gaborik scored the winning goal midway through the third period and the Wild rallied.
The goal came less than four minutes after Todd White tied it for Minnesota, which won for third time in four games.
Jere Lehtinen scored for Dallas, which played the fifth of six straight road games and lost for the second time in its last nine games away from home.
Maple Leafs 9 Islanders 6: At Toronto, Ed Belfour moved into sole possession of second place on the NHL’s career wins list, and Matt Stajan scored twice in Toronto’s victory.
Belfour lost five straight starts since moving into a tie with Terry Sawchuk on Nov. 28, but the 40-year-old goalie won his 448th — despite allowing four goals in the first period and six goals on 33 shots.
Alex Ponikarovsky, Ken Klee, Mariusz Czerkawski, Jeff O’Neill, Mats Sundin, Kyle Wellwood and Darcy Tucker also had goals for the Maple Leafs, who won for just the second time in six games.
New York goalie Rick DiPietro, chosen earlier Monday for the US Olympic hockey team, left after allowing six goals on 17 shots.
Oilers 5 Flames 4: At Edmonton, Alberta, Fernando Pisani’s goal with 44 seconds remaining in the third period lifted the Oilers. Igor Ulanov and Shawn Horcoff had two goals each, and Horcoff added an assist in his 300th NHL game for Edmonton, which has won three straight to move into a tie with Calgary for second place in the Northwest Division.
Kings 4 Canucks 3: At Vancouver, British Columbia, Alexander Frolov scored the lone goal of the shootout to give the Kings the win. Mathieu Garon stopped Markus Naslund’s backhand move to clinch the win as the Kings overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to win the match-up of 20-victory teams.
Gretzky’s Mother Dies of Cancer at 64
In Toronto, Phyllis Gretzky, the mother of Canadian hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, passed away Monday night from cancer, the Phoenix Coyotes said. She was 64 years old.
Phyllis Gretzky had battled lung cancer since the fall of 2004. Wayne Gretzky took a leave of absence from coaching the Coyotes Saturday night to return home to Brantford, Ontario, to spend time with his ailing mother.
Phyllis Gretzky is survived by her husband Walter, who is popular throughout Canada as a goodwill hockey ambassador.
Her children include first born Wayne, daughter Kim and other sons Keith, Glen and Brent.
