By The Associated Press

DENVER – Peter Budaj stopped 22 shots for his first career shutout and the Colorado Avalanche moved into first place in the Northwest Division with a 3-0 victory Sunday over the Calgary Flames.

The win moved Colorado a point ahead of the Flames. It was the first of back-to-back meetings between the two teams, which play again in Calgary on Monday.

Budaj has won his first two starts since becoming Colorado’s starting goaltender when David Aebischer was traded to Montreal last Wednesday for Jose Theodore. Budaj made several acrobatic saves, including on Sean Donovan from in front of the crease.

Joe Sakic and Alex Tanguay each had a goal and an assist. Milan Hejduk added a shorthanded goal.

The loss denied Calgary coach Darryl Sutter his 400th win.

Thrashers 3, Rangers 2

NEW YORK – Ilya Kovalchuk scored the tying goal late in regulation and Marc Savard netted the winner 2:45 into overtime on Atlanta’s only shot of the extra session, lifting the Thrashers to a 3-2 comeback victory that sent the New York Rangers to their fifth straight loss. Both goals came on the power play that until Kovalchuk scored with 4:41 remaining in regulation was 0-for-6. He then set up Savard’s 25th goal, scored with a rising shot from the right circle.

Senators 5, Capitals 2

WASHINGTON -Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza each had a goal and two assists to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 on.

Ottawa, 7-0-1 in its last eight games with Washington, finished a five-game trip with a 4-1 record after also beating Toronto, Atlanta and Tampa Bay.

Wade Redden, Patrick Eaves and Chris Neil also scored for Ottawa.

Penguins 2, Flyers 0

PITTSBURGH -Pittsburgh rookie Colby Armstrong had a career-high two goals, and the Penguins killed a late 7-minute power play to win their second game in two nights, 2-0 over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Armstrong, who has goals in three consecutive games and points in eight straight, scored one on the power play midway through the first period. The second was at even strength early in the third period, and both were set up by rookie Sidney Crosby.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for his first shutout of the season and second career.

Coupled with the Rangers’ overtime loss on Sunday, Philadelphia dropped two points back of first-place New York in the Atlantic Division.

Armstrong’s first goal came when he slammed a rebound of Ryan Whitney’s shot past Flyers goalie Robert Esche.

Crosby, who set up Whitney for a one-timer, has at least one assist in five straight games.

Wild 4, Oilers 3

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Brian Rolston and Pierre-Marc Bouchard combined for eight points and the Minnesota Wild rallied for a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers .

Rolston scored twice and had two assists, and Bouchard scored the winner and assisted on Minnesota’s other three goals. Dwayne Roloson had 26 saves against his former Wild teammates and is 0-3 since coming to Edmonton in a trade last week. Fernando Pisani gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead with a power play goal in the third period. But newly acquired Martin Skoula and Bouchard scored for the Wild, who pulled within five points of the Oilers in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot. Shawn Horcoff had a goal and two assists as well as a season-high three penalties for Edmonton.

Wings 5, Blackhawks 3

CHICAGO – Pavel Datsyuk and Mathieu Schneider each had a goal and two assists, and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Sunday night for their third straight win.

Newly acquired defenseman Cory Cross, Brendan Shanahan and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for Detroit, which has won five of six and 11 of 13.

The Red Wings built a 3-0 lead in the opening 6:57 and beat the Blackhawks for the sixth time this season and seventh in a row overall. The Blackhawks haven’t defeated Detroit since Dec. 28, 2003. Chris Osgood made 17 saves as the Red Wings followed up a 6-4 victory Saturday night and swept the home-and-home series.

Mikael Holmqvist, Patrick Sharp and Mark Cullen scored for Chicago, which lost its third straight and eighth in 10.

Nikolai Khabibulin started in goal for Chicago, but was pulled for the second straight game after allowing three goals on five shots.

Craig Anderson came on in relief and gave up two goals on 23 shots.

Cross opened the scoring at 1:49 during his first shift with the Red Wings. He pinched in up the slot, took Robert Lang’s centering pass and fired a high shot past Khabibulin’s glove side.

Cross was acquired from Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Shanahan made it 2-0 at 4:06 with his 30th goal, becoming the 10th NHL player to reach the mark in 12 seasons. Shanahan surprised Khabibulin on the short side from a sharp angle with a quick shot after Datsyuk dropped a pass back from behind the net.

Datsyuk stretched Detroit’s lead to 3-0 1:51 later. After slipping behind Chicago’s defense and taking a feed from Schneider, Datsyuk faked a backhand shot and beat Khabibulin with a forehand.

Holmqvist cut it to 3-1 with 5 minutes left in the first. He converted a rebound of Milan Bartovic’s shot, set up by a Detroit turnover.

Sharp’s goal at 5:26 of the second period closed it to 3-2 but Zetterberg’s power-play score at 3:40 of the third gave Detroit a two-goal advantage.

Cullen’s deflection with 9:34 left in the third made it to 4-3.

Notes: Datsyuk has goals in four straight games and a 10-game point streak. During that span he has six goals and 12 assists. … Shanahan has four goals and five assists in four games. … Red Wings RW Mikael Samuelsson missed his fifth game with a wrist injury. … Khabibulin started his third straight game after returning from a left knee sprain on Thursday. He was replaced Saturday in Detroit after allowing five goals. … Sharp has five goals in eight games after not scoring in 24 straight following a Dec. 5 trade from Philadelphia.

AP-ES-03-12-06 2136EST