Lemieux Leads Penguins To Win

NHL

Mario Lemieux had a goal and four assists, and Jaromir Jagr got two goals and two assists as the Penguins overcame a slow start to beat the Hartford Whalers 9-4 Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins broke open a 2-2 game with four second-period goals as they recorded the franchise’s 900th win. The Penguins are 14-3 at home this season. The Whalers, who got three goals from Geoff Sanderson, are winless in six games (0-3-3).

Lemieux and Jagr, first and second in the NHL scoring race, each had his 22nd multiple-point game this season. Lemieux had his second five-point game. His season best is seven points.

Penguins 9, Whalers 4

Hartford 2 0 2 - 4

Pittsburgh 2 4 3 - 9

First period-1, Hartford, Sanderson 11 (Brown), 1:14. 2, Pittsburgh, Francis 19 (Jagr, Nedved), 1:36. 3, Hartford, Kron 7 (Cassels, Sanderson), 8:40. 4, Pittsburgh, Jagr 31 (Mironov, Lemieux), 12:15.

Second period-5, Pittsburgh, Jagr 32 (Nedved), 3:24. 6, Pittsburgh, Smolinski 12 (Murray, Naslund), 5:24. 7, Pittsburgh, Park 4 (Lemieux, Mironov), 17:33. 8, Pittsburgh, Sandstrom 24 (Lemieux, Jagr), 19:55 (pp).

Third period-9, Pittsburgh, Lemieux 31 (Sandstrom, Francis), 1:02 (pp). 10, Hartford, Sanderson 12 (Brown), 5:43. 11, Hartford, Sanderson 13 (Kron, Wesley), 8:18. 12, Pittsburgh, Naslund 13 (Sandstrom, Lemieux), 9:42. 13, Pittsburgh, Sandstrom 25 (Zhubov, Francis), 17:37 (pp).

Shots on goal-Hartford 23-9-13-45. Pittsburgh 10-19-16-45.Power-play opp.-Hartford 0 of 5; Pittsburgh 3 of 5.Goalies-Hartford, Burke 9-14-3 (29 shots-23 saves), (Muzzatti 0:00 third, 16-13). Pittsburgh, Wregget 11-7-1 (45-41).A-17,181 (17,181).

Rangers 3, Canucks 2

Vancouver, British Columbia

New York moved into first place in the overall NHL standings when it edged Vancouver on Wayne Presley’s second goal of the season.

Presley scored from 40 feet when he beat Kirk McLean with a high shot off the goaltender’s catching glove in the second period to break a 2-2 tie.

N.Y. Rangers 2 1 0 - 3

Vancouver 2 0 0 - 2

First period-1, New York, Norstrom 2 (Messier, Graves), 3:02. 2, Vancouver, Linden 18 (Lumme), 4:10 (pp). 3, New York, Ferraro 15 (Kovalev, Driver), 9:01 (pp). 4, Vancouver, Lumme 5 (Linden), 14:46 (pp).

Second period-5, New York, Presley 2 (Driver), 7:18.

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-New York 14-6-3-23. Vancouver 10-6-6-22.Power-play opp.-New York 1 of 5; Vancouver 2 of 8.Goalies-New York, Richter 18-8-3 (22 shots-20 saves). Vancouver, McLean 9-12-7 (23-20).A-18,422 (18,422).

Lightning 3, Canadiens 1

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Goaltender J.C. Bergeron outdueled Pat Jablonski and Brian Bellows scored on a power play to lead Tampa Bay to a win over Montreal.

The victory gave the Lightning a 6-0-1 home record against Montreal (18-16-2) in Tampa Bay’s four-year history. The game was witnessed by 26,415, third largest crowd in league history.

Montreal 0 0 1 - 1

Tampa Bay 0 1 2 - 3

First period-None.

Second period-1, Tampa Bay, Cullen 4, 13:18.

Third period-2, Tampa Bay, Bellows 10 (Bradley, Ysebaert), 1:19 (pp). 3, Montreal, Koivu 12 (Turgeon, Recchi), 15:21. 4, Tampa Bay, Zamuner 5 (Hamrlik), 19:01 (en).

Shots on goal-Montreal 10-6-11-27. Tampa Bay 7-14-5-26.Power-play opp.-Montreal 0 of 5; Tampa Bay 1 of 4.Goalies-Montreal, Jablonski 2-4-0 (25 shots-23 saves). Tampa Bay, Reese (3-3), Bergeron, 2-6-1 (10:50 first, 24-23).A-26,415 (28,000).

Capitals 5, Panthers 4

Miami

Pat Peake’s goal with 3:34 remaining capped a three-goal third-period rally that gave Washington its victory over Florida.

The Panthers allowed three goals in a 5-minute span to blow a 4-2 deficit. The loss snapped their three-game winning streak, costing them a chance to take sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division.

Washington 1 1 3 - 5

Florida 1 2 1 - 4

First period-1, Florida, Woolley 5 (Skrudland, Dvorak), 4:16. 2, Washington, Pivonka 3 (Bondra), 12:08.

Second period-3, Washington, Bondra 20 (Cote, Gonchar), 2:49 (pp). 4, Florida, Lindsay 5 (Hull), 13:55. 5, Florida, Belanger 12 (Svehla, Woolley), 19:40 (pp).

Third period-6, Florida, Belanger 13 (Mellanby, Garpenlov), 6:37. 7, Washington, Klee 7, 11:37. 8, Washington, Gonchar 7 (Bondra, Tinordi), 13;10. 9, Washington, Peake 8 (Johansson), 16:26.

Shots on goal-Washington 8-11-8-27. Florida 10-9-6-25.Power-play opp.-Washington 1 of 3; Florida 1 of 3.Goalies-Washington, Carey 15-10-3 (25 shots-21 saves). Florida, Fitzpatrick 9-2-1 (27-22).A-14,703 (14,503).

Blackhawks 4, Jets 3

Chicago

Murray Craven’s short-handed goal with 8:27 remaining in the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and lifted Chicago to its third straight win.

Gary Suter, who set up Craven’s game-winner, got his 13th and 14th goals of the season.

Winnipeg 0 1 2 - 3

Chicago 1 2 1 - 4

First period-1, Chicago, Suter 13 (Shantz, Craven), 8:43 (sh).

Second period-2, Chicago, Roenick 19 (Smith), 7:53. 3, Winnipeg, Zhamnov 12 (Stapleton, Finley), 8:48. 4, Chicago, Suter 14 (Sutter), 12:16.

Third period-5, Winnipeg, Selanne 20 (Zhamnov, Maciver), 1:46 (pp). 6, Winnipeg, Selanne 21 (Olczyk, Tkachuk), 2:46. 7, Chicago, Craven 9 (Suter, Nicholls), 11:33.

Shots on goal-Winnipeg 8-6-11-25. Chicago 5-12-11-28.Power-play opp.-Winnipeg 1 of 5; Chicago 0 of 2.Goalies-Winnipeg, Cheveldae 4-13-3 (28 shots-24 saves). Chicago, Hackett 8-3-3 (25-22).A-21,701 (20,500).

Blues 4, Stars 1

St. Louis

Brett Hull had two goals and an assist and Grant Fuhr was outstanding in goal as St. Louis snapped a three-game losing streak.

Fuhr, starting his 37th consecutive game, made 26 saves.

Dallas 1 0 0 - 1

St. Louis 0 3 1 - 4

First period-1, Dallas, Modano 14, 19:57.

Second period-2, St. Louis, Pronger 4 (Hull, Corson), 4:41. 3, St. Louis, Creighton 4 (MacInnis, Baron), 9:26. 4, St. Louis, Hull 23 (Corson, Vopat), 18:36.

Third period-5, St. Louis, Hull 24 (MacInnis), 19:08 (en).

Shots on goal-Dallas 12-11-4-27. St. Louis 9-10-13-32.Power-play opp.-Dallas 0 of 8; St. Louis 0 of 9.Goalies-Dallas, Moog 5-7-3 (31 shots-28 saves). St. Louis, Fuhr 16-15-5 (27-26).A-20,083 (19,260).

Notes

With the end of the holiday moratorium on trades, the league’s general managers made a flurry of deals.

Mike Keenan, coach and general manager of the St. Louis Blues, continued to add members of his 1994 Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers, acquiring left winger Stephane Matteau for center Ian Laperriere.

The Winnipeg Jets got some power-play help, picking up defenseman Norm Maciver from Pittsburgh for defenseman Neil Wilkinson.

The Hartford Whalers re-acquired Kevin Dineen from the Philadelphia Flyers for future considerations and the Los Angeles Kings got defenseman John Slaney from Colorado for a sixth-round pick in the 1996 entry draft.