Hull scores 709th career goal to move into fifth place

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Game Information

Arena: Joe Louis Arena Location: Detroit, Michigan

Referees: MichaelMcGeough, KevinPollock Linesmen: RandyMitton, RayScapinello

Attendance: 20,058 (100.0% full)

Team Stat Comparison
251	Goals	269
194	Goals Against	203
68	Power Play Goals	76
63	Power Play Goals Allowed	55
5	Shorthanded Goals	11
6	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	4
1084	Penalty Minutes	1214
13	Average Penalty Minutes	15

Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD			COL	DET
5:13		Pavel Datsyuk Assists: Henrik Zetterberg, Brett Hull	0	1
13:27		Steve Reinprecht (Shorthanded) Assists: Greg de Vries	1	1
17:14		Rob Blake (Power Play) Assists: Joe Sakic, Steve Reinprecht	2	1
2ND PERIOD			COL	DET
8:22		Brendan Shanahan Assists: Sergei Fedorov	2	2
13:29		Sergei Fedorov Assists: Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom	2	3
17:05		Igor Larionov Assists: Luc Robitaille	2	4
3RD PERIOD			COL	DET
5:56		Brett Hull Assists: Pavel Datsyuk, Chris Chelios	2	5
11:09		Derek Morris (Power Play) Assists: Milan Hejduk, Alex Tanguay	3	5

DETROIT (AP) -- Brett Hull reached another milestone and the defending Stanley Cup champions look ready to defend their title.

	Hull

Hull scored his 709th goal to move into fifth place on the NHL's career list as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 on Saturday.

Pavel Datsyuk -- who assisted on the goal which moved Hull past Mike Gartner -- Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov also scored for the Red Wings, who have won 14 of their last 16 games.

"When you've got the players we do and do what you're supposed to do, just don't be stupid and you'll be all right," Hull said.

Hull, who has 30 goals this season, trails Phil Esposito (717), Marcel Dionne (731), Gordie Howe (801) and Wayne Gretzky (894) on the career list.

Hull and Datsyuk passed the puck back and forth a few times as they raced up the ice before Hull scored 5:26 into the third into an open net from the bottom of the right circle to make it 5-2.

"That's the way you're supposed to play," Hull said. "Pass the puck, and get it back."

Hull became the sixth player in league history to score 700 regular-season goals on Feb. 10. Datsyuk also assisted on that milestone goal.

Curtis Joseph made 21 saves for the Red Wings, while Colorado's Patrick Roy made 33. Roy was subjected to taunting "Pa-trick! Pa-trick!" chants from the crowd at Joe Louis Arena.

Roy was impressed with the sequence that led to Hull's latest milestone.

"Let's give them credit for that play," Roy said. "He made a great pass to (Datsyuk) and he made a super pass back to (Hull), and he tapped it in.

"That's one we'll see the highlights of a lot."

Joseph's 375 career wins and Roy's 544 represented the most combined wins (819) by goalies in the same game in NHL history.

Colorado forward Peter Forsberg left the game in the second period with a bruised leg and didn't return. Avalanche coach Tony Granato said Forsberg has a charley horse, and did not know if he would play Sunday in Washington.

Steven Reinprecht, Rob Blake and Derek Morris scored for Colorado, which had lost only one of its previous seven games.

Reinprecht and Blake scored in the second half of the first period to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead. But Detroit scored three goals in the second to go ahead before Hull sealed the win.

"The second period hurt us," Colorado's Joe Sakic said. "We didn't move. They were skating and we weren't."

Detroit's youngest stars began the scoring 5:13 into the game. Rookie Henrik Zetterberg made a cross-ice pass to Datsyuk, a second-year player, who beat Roy with a one-timer from the right circle.

Just 23 seconds into a Detroit power play midway through the first period, Reinprecht pounced on a loose puck and scored on a breakaway to tie it.

Blake's power-play goal at 17:14 of the first period was the only score with the man-advantage against Detroit in four-plus games.

Game notes
The Red Wings are 8-0 with Steve Yzerman in the lineup. Yzerman, who had knee surgery last summer, played his first game this season on Feb. 24. Detroit coach Dave Lewis said he didn't know if Yzerman would play Sunday against Ottawa. ... Detroit tied the season series with Colorado at 2 in their final regular-season game. ... Forsberg, who hurt his left leg in a collision with Red Wings defenseman Dmitri Bykov on the boards, leads the NHL with 63 assists and is among the league leaders with 88 points. ... The Red Wings had gone a span of 257:49 without allowing a power-play goal before Blake scored. ... Shanahan has scored four goals against the Avalanche this season and 18 of his 27 goals have been scored at home.