Holmqvist Continues to Stymie Opponents

Monday, January 8th 2007, 6:27 am

By: News On 6

Tampa Bay goalie Johan Holmqvist has been unbeatable in shootouts. He has stopped all 10 skaters he has faced in shootouts this season, including Sidney Crosby, Eric Christensen and Evgeni Malkin in Sunday night's 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

``I just tried to give them nothing to shoot at,'' Holmqvist said.

Crosby had scored an unorthodox goal in regulation, sliding toward the net face first.

Maybe that's why Martin St. Louis tried to do something different himself on the shot that ended up counting the most.

St. Louis put an odd-angle backhander between Marc-Andre Fleury's pads for the only successful shot in the shootout.

Fleury stopped Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier to start the shootout, but St. Louis skated down the slot and faked out the goalie by going to his backhand and then slipping the puck between the goalie's legs as he skated alongside the net.

``I wanted to try something different, maybe something he hasn't seen before,'' said St. Louis, who had been 0-for-2 in shootout attempts. ``I think I caught him off guard a bit, maybe changed things up a little bit.''

The Penguins had done almost nothing offensively against the team that has allowed the fewest shots in the league until Crosby's goal late in the closing seconds of the second period tied it at 1.

In other NHL games, it was Vancouver 4, Florida 3 in a shootout; New Jersey 3, Montreal 0; Ottawa 6, Philadelphia 1; Phoenix 4, Chicago 2; and Anaheim 4, Detroit 2.

At Pittsburgh, Nolan Pratt's shot on a good scoring chance slammed off the rear boards, allowing Mark Recchi to start a break the other way for the Penguins. With defenseman Cory Sarich trying to defend on the 2-on-1, Recchi came down the right wing boards and threw a pass toward Crosby in the left circle.

Crosby slipped to one knee as he stretched out, then two knees and, finally, was on his stomach as the puck arrived. Somehow, Crosby not only got his stick on it but deftly lifted it over Holmqvist and into the side of the net with 5 seconds remaining for his 20th goal. The NHL's leading scorer has 64 points.

``The puck was a little bit ahead, so I just reached for it. I just tried to angle my stick up so the puck would get up but I wasn't sure if it was going to go in,'' Crosby said.

Remarkably, Crosby's slide from his knees to his stomach wasn't entirely unintentional.

``I was going to two knees to try to find a better look at the puck,'' Crosby said. ``The puck ended up coming a little bit ahead of me so I just lunged for it.''

Canucks 4, Panthers 3, SO

At Vancouver, British Columbia, Josh Green scored in the sixth round of the shootout to give the Canucks a victory over the Panthers.

The win extended Vancouver's season-high winning streak to seven games while the Panthers dropped their third straight on the road.

Green beat Florida goalie Ed Belfour high to the stick side from 20 feet out for the winner and then had to stand by and watch nervously as Vancouver's Roberto Luongo stopped Jozef Stumpel at the other end to preserve the win.

Devils 3, Canadians 0

At Montreal, Martin Brodeur made 28 saves for his league-leading seventh shutout of the season and Brian Gionta scored twice, lifting the Devils over the Canadiens.

Gionta, who scored late in the first to put New Jersey up 2-0, got his second of the game _ his team-leading 19th _ on a power play 12:47 into the third.

Mike Rupp scored his third goal 2:21 in for the Devils, who have won three in a row.

Senators 6, Flyers 1

At Ottawa, Dany Heatley had two goals and an assist, and linemate Daniel Alfredsson added a goal and two assists in the Senators' victory over the Flyers.

The third member of that line, Chris Kelly, had a goal and an assist to help the Senators win for the sixth time in their last eight games.

Martin Gerber, making a rare home start in place of Ray Emery, made 20 saves, allowing only R.J. Umberger's goal.

Antero Niittymaki made 37 saves for Philadelphia in his 11th straight loss.

Coyotes 4, Blackhawks 2

At Chicago, Jeremy Roenick had a goal and an assist and the Coyotes won their season-high sixth straight, beating the Blackhawks.

Michael Zigomanis, Fredrik Sjostrom and Oleg Saprykin also scored for Phoenix, which hasn't lost in regulation in its last eight, going 7-0-1.

The Coyotes' Mikael Tellqvist made 32 saves, including several on tough chances in the third period.

Patrick Sharp and Peter Bondra scored for the Blackhawks, who lost their third straight overall and third straight at home. Chicago has dropped five of its last six.

Ducks 4, Red Wings 2

At Anaheim, Calif., Bjorn Melin scored in his NHL debut and the Ducks also got goals from Travis Moen and Ryan Getzlaf to beat the Red Wings, ending a four-game losing streak.

Mikael Samuelsson and Tomas Holmstrom scored power-play goals for the Red Wings, who are 0-3 on their five-game trip.