With Saturday afternoon?s 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild, the Colorado Avalanche finished 11-1-2 in March, tying the franchise record for wins in a single month. The Avalanche reached 11 wins in a month for only the second time in franchise history, as they also had 11 wins in January of 2004 (11-1-2-2). Colorado was 3-1 at home this month and 8-0-2 on the road. The Avs collected 24 out of a possible 28 points in March.

Paul Holmgren, who mentored Todd Fedoruk through difficult times early in his career, said Fedoruk is seeking a big raise over the NHL minimum $450,000 he earned this season and unless he lowers his asking price it will be difficult to keep him. Fedoruk, now in his sixth NHL season, said he's earned the right to a big payday, especially when compared to some other veteran fighters in the league. Washington's Donald Brashear ($1 million) and Pittsburgh's Georges Laraque ($1.2 million) are among the league's highest paid fighters. "You gotta look at where I'm at in my career," Fedoruk said. "I've made the minimum since I got in this league. I put my time in. There are guys in my position making a nice amount of money. I would have liked to have a better season this year, but you can't hold that against a guy. "I'm a big guy. I can skate. You can count on me defensively. I can play on any line and not hurt the team. I can play the game at a level that needs to be played without fighting."

Three years ago, an ESPN survey had the Hawks at the bottom of the four major sports, the 120th team of 120 considered. Now, they're 118th out of 122. Only the Minnesota Vikings, New York Knicks, Oakland Raiders and dead-last Detroit Lions are considered poorer examples of professional sports franchises.

Gary Roberts still looks fondly on his time in Toronto. "It's always emotional for me to go back and play in Toronto, with the way they treated me," he said. "I have such fond memories." He'll be an unrestricted free agent this summer and, assuming the Maple Leafs have the salary-cap space and the inclination, might be able to see family and friends on a daily basis.

The word coming out of Philadelphia in recent weeks had the Flyers prepared to empty the piggy bank for Daniel Briere, the Sabres? gifted leading scorer, come July. Like Chris Drury, he?ll become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Philly sees Briere as a franchise player, someone who can lead them from hell.

The Dallas Stars were outplayed for most of their game against the Detroit Red Wings. They made up for it in the last six minutes of regulation. Sergei Zubov scored the only goal of the shootout to lift Dallas to a 4-3 comeback victory Friday night and improved its points streak to six straight games. The Stars scored three goals in 6:17 to tie the game at three in the third period and send it into overtime. Dallas had been 2-8-5 in its previous 15 games against Dallas. "We stuck with the game plan and said between the second and the third we'll put it all on the line here and see what happens," said Dallas goalie Mike Smith, who stopped Pavel Datsyuk, Dan Cleary, and Todd Bertuzzi in the shootout. "Fortunately, we came out with the win."

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall was helped off the ice and taken to hospital after injuring his right hip on a check from the Dallas Stars' Joel Lundqvist just 24 seconds into Friday night's game. The Red Wings said Kronwall would not return after he was taken to Detroit Medical Center for further tests. Kronwall was hit from the side and into the end boards by Lundqvist as he stopped behind Detroit's net as he tried retrieve the puck.

Forward Ryan Smyth missed the Islanders' game against Buffalo on Friday because of leg injury, further depleting New York's roster for its final playoff push. Smyth is day-to-day after practising on a limited basis since a 3-2 loss to New Jersey on Tuesday. Smyth has four goals and nine assists in 13 games with New York. The high-scoring left-wing acquired from Edmonton at the NHL trade deadline last month The Islanders are already without starting goalie Rick DiPietro, who's out indefinitely after missing his second straight game because of a concussion.

The Los Angeles Kings have assigned forward Noah Clarke to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced today. Clarke, 27, has played in 13 games for the Kings this season and has two points (2-0=2) and four penalty minutes. He was most recently recalled (under emergency conditions) by the Kings on March 5. The 5-9, 185-pound native of La Verne, California, has three points (2-1=3) and four penalty minutes in 20 career NHL games ? all with the Kings. Originally selected by the Kings in the ninth-round (250th overall) in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, Clarke has 48 points (21-27=48), nine power play goals, 23 penalty minutes and a plus-6 rating in 56 games with the Monarchs this season.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have added forward Joakim Lindstrom to the roster on emergency recall from the Syracuse Crunch, Columbus' American Hockey League affiliate, Blue Jackets President and General Manager Doug MacLean announced today. Lindstrom is expected to join the club in time for tonight's game at Chicago. Lindstrom, 23, has collected 1-0-1 and two penalty minutes in five games with the Blue Jackets this season, scoring his first career NHL goal at Minnesota on December 29. Columbus' second pick, 41st overall, in the 2002 Entry Draft, he made his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets last season and was scoreless in three games. The Skelleftea, Sweden native ranks second on the Crunch with 22-26-48 with 34 penalty minutes and is +8 in 50 games with Syracuse this season. In 127 career AHL games, he has registered 40-59-99 and 86 penalty minutes.