Canadiens Continue to Roll Since Trade of No. 1 Scorer

The Montreal Canadiens seem to be doing just fine without Mark Recchi.

They downed the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2, Thursday night at Montreal for their third consecutive victory since trading Recchi, their leading scorer, to the Philadelphia Flyers.

“Since Mark left, I think that we might be playing a little better as a team,” said defenseman Stephane Quintal. “Sometimes I think we rely on our big players too much.”

Turner Stevenson delivered a pair of hard hits to force a Nashville turnover, then scored the go-ahead goal in the third period.

“Stevenson worked hard on the game-winner,” said Nashville Coach Barry Trotz. “He nailed Tommy Fitzgerald and he’s still a little sore. And after they took the lead, they put pressure on us. They’re a much larger team. They really played desperate hockey.”

Colorado 3, Carolina 2--Joe Sakic had a goal and two assists and Milan Hejduk added a goal and an assist at Denver as the Avalanche won for only the second time in its last nine home games.

St. Louis 2, Phoenix 2--Pavol Demitra’s goal with 7:42 to play pulled the Blues even at St. Louis.