Hasek Blanks Canadiens After All-Star Snub

Dominik Hasek had the perfect answer after being shut out of the All-Star game. He slammed the door on the Montreal Canadiens. <br/><br/>Hasek has been stellar in his 15th NHL season. He leads the league

Tuesday, January 16th 2007, 6:22 am

By: News On 6

Dominik Hasek had the perfect answer after being shut out of the All-Star game. He slammed the door on the Montreal Canadiens.

Hasek has been stellar in his 15th NHL season. He leads the league in goals-against average, sending his below two with a 23-save effort in the Detroit Red Wings' 2-0 victory on Monday night.

And now he is only one shutout behind New Jersey's Martin Brodeur for the league lead. Hasek is 41, but shows no signs of slowing down.

He has six shutouts this season and 74 in a career that has featured six All-Star appearances. A seventh invitation didn't come Saturday when Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff and Dallas' Marty Turco were chosen to back up Western Conference starter Roberto Luongo of Vancouver in the game next week.

``I believe I deserved to be there,'' said Hasek, sporting a 1.98 GAA. ``For me, it's over now. I want to stay focused for the rest of the season. I didn't come back to Detroit to play in the All-Star game.''

And his determination to help the Red Wings win didn't wane following the snub, nor did he use it as extra motivation in his first start since.

``I don't feel that way,'' he said after the Red Wings won their fourth straight. ``I was rested because Ozzy (Chris Osgood) played the last game at home.''

In other NHL games, it was: Tampa Bay 4, the New York Islanders 3; Boston 3, Buffalo 2 in a shootout; Phoenix 5, St. Louis 4 in a shootout; Dallas 3, Los Angeles 1; Nashville 5, Calgary 3; and San Jose 3, Colorado 1.

Considering Hasek's age and his history of groin injuries _ including one in last year's Olympics that knocked him out for the rest of the season _ the Red Wings won't mind having him rest during the break.

Better he should play in the postseason than the All-Star game.

``We've got a lot of confidence with him in net,'' Detroit coach Mike Babcock said.

David Aebischer made 37 saves for visiting Montreal. He allowed a first-period goal to Jiri Hudler, and Pavel Datsyuk's tally in the third.

``They played pretty good defensively,'' Canadiens forward Michael Ryder said. ``And we couldn't get anything to the net or by Hasek.''

Lightning 4, Islanders 3

At Uniondale, N.Y., Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards each had a goal and an assist to lead Tampa Bay past the New York Islanders.

Vaclav Prospal had a goal and two assists for Tampa Bay, which has won five straight. Johan Holmqvist stopped 33 shots for his third straight win against New York.

Alexei Yashin, Viktor Kozlov and Trent Hunter scored for the Islanders, who have dropped two straight and eight of 10, including four consecutive at home.

Bruins 3, Sabres 2, SO

At Boston, Marco Sturm scored the lone goal in the shootout to snap the host Bruins' three-game losing streak.

Marc Savard and P.J. Axelsson also scored for Boston, which avoided its longest losing streak of the season. Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht had goals for Buffalo, which has lost a season-high three straight.

Ryan Miller stopped 35 shots for the Sabres, including an exceptional diving save with his stick on a shot by Paul Mara late in the second period. But he couldn't stop Sturm's shot in the shootout.

Stars 3, Kings 1

At Dallas, Stu Barnes and Niklas Hagman scored power-play goals, Marty Turco made 20 saves, and the injury-depleted Stars snapped a three-game losing streak.

Trevor Daley added a goal, and Mike Ribeiro had two assists for Dallas. Michael Cammalleri had a power-play goal for Los Angeles.

Dallas is 6-0 against Los Angeles this season, outscoring the Kings 23-11. Los Angeles has lost four straight overall.

Coyotes 5, Blues 4, SO

Ladislav Nagy scored the deciding goal in a shootout, giving the Coyotes a win and ending St. Louis' three-game winning streak.

The Coyotes salvaged the finale of a three-game homestand after returning to Arizona on a seven-game winning streak.

Ed Jovanovski scored twice and had an assist for Phoenix. He nearly won it in overtime when his shot smacked off the crossbar with less than a minute to play.

Jovanovski broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal in the waning seconds of the second period and then snapped a 3-3 tie with another late in the third. Third-period goals by Dennis Wideman and Peter Sejna tied it again for St. Louis.

Predators 5, Flames 3

David Legwand had a goal and two assists, and Martin Erat had one of each to lift the host Predators to their sixth straight victory.

Scott Hartnell, Jason Arnott and Ryan Suter also scored for Nashville.

Kristian Huselius scored twice and Daymond Langkow added a goal for Calgary, which had a five-game winning streak snapped.

Sharks 3, Avalanche 1

At San Jose, Calif., Patrick Marleau had a goal and two assists, and the Sharks' vaunted power play produced every score in a victory over Colorado.

All-Stars Jonathan Cheechoo and Joe Thornton also scored man-advantage goals for the Sharks, who have won six of seven on the strength of the NHL's best power play. Colorado's penalty-killers were beaten three times while the Sharks took a season-high 42 shots.

Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves in his first victory since Dec. 23 for the Sharks, who are creeping back into the Pacific Division race. San Jose is just six points behind the Anaheim Ducks.

Peter Budaj made 39 saves in another outstanding performance for the Avalanche, whose three-game road winning streak was snapped. Colorado captain Joe Sakic scored a power-play goal in the third period to break up Nabokov's shutout bid.