DENVER (Colorado), Nov 28: Dan Hinote and Alex Tanguay ended long goal-scoring droughts and goaltender Patrick Roy nearly got the first score of his career as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 Tuesday.

Hinote and Tanguay both scored in a three-goal final period as the defending champion Avalanche got their fourth straight home win.

Hinote got his first goal in 13 games and Tanguay got his first in 10, an empty-netter with 38 seconds to go.

With 17:37 remaining, goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped Hinote’s wraparound attempt at the right goalpost, but the puck squirted free and Hinote put in a backhander while falling to the ice for the go-ahead score, his second goal of the season.

Joe Sakic made it 3-1 with 10:18 to play, getting his own rebound and beating Roberto Luongo from an almost impossible angle along the goal line on the right side.

Luongo made 23 saves and Roy 13.

Roy made a bid for the first goal of his glittering NHL career but his shot was gloved down at center ice by Panthers center Viktor Kozlov.

Roy’s Pepsi Center shutout streak reached 272 minutes, one second before Paul Laus scored to forge a second-period tie.

In Buffalo, Mike Richter stopped 47 shots and Mike York scored with 8.5 seconds left as the New York Rangers salvaged a 2-2 tie with the Sabres.

After yielding 11 power-play chances in each of their previous two games, the Rangers gave the Sabres an extra man seven times, including a two-minute, two-man advantage in the second period.

But Richter helped kill all but one and York made sure the Rangers came away with a point.

In Uniondale, New York, Mariusz Czerkawski scored with 47 seconds left in regulation to complete his fourth career hat trick and lift the Islanders into a 5-5 tie with the Washington Capitals.

New York moved to 4-0-1 in its last five games but remained winless in the last 20 meetings (0-17-3) with Washington since March 2, 1997.

In St Louis, Pavol Demitra scored two goals and two assists against his former team to lead the Blues to their fourth straight home win, 4-2 over the Ottawa Senators.

Tuesday’s results (home team in CAPS):