Blackhawks Defeat Depleted Avalanche

Alex Zhamnov had a first-period goal and then set up Kevin Miller’s tie-breaker at 8:15 of the third to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the injury-depleted Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night at Chicago.

Chicago ended a two-game losing streak and moved into sixth place in the Western Conference standings.

San Jose 3, Ottawa 3--Stephane Matteau scored his 14th goal 1:58 into the third period to lift the Sharks to a tie at Kanata, Canada.

John MacLean and Dave Lowry also scored for the Sharks, who pulled even with idle Edmonton in their battle for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.

Washington 4, Tampa Bay 1--Peter Bondra had two goals in the first period at Washington, and the Capitals moved into home-ice position for the Eastern Conference playoffs.

NHL Notes

A Philadelphia radio station agreed to make a contribution to a charity of Eric Lindros’ choice to settle a libel suit filed after the station said he missed a game because he was hung over.