Pittsburgh Rolls To 4th Straight Win

NHL

Brad Lauer and Petr Nedved scored third-period goals, and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the New Jersey Devils 2-1 Saturday for their fourth consecutive victory.

Mario Lemieux, who equaled his career high with five goals against St. Louis in his previous home game Tuesday night, was limited to an assist after totaling nine points in two games. The Devils outshot Pittsburgh 39-23.

Ken Wregget made 38 saves - including 26 in a scoreless first two periods - and the Penguins killed off all three New Jersey power plays. Scott Stevens scored a third-period goal for New Jersey.

Penguins 2, Devils 1

New Jersey 0 0 1 - 1

Pittsburgh 0 0 2 - 2

First period-None.

Second period-None.

Third period-1, Pittsburgh, Lauer 4 (Lemieux, Miller), :28. 2, Pittsburgh, Nedved 41 (Jagr, Francis), 5:47. 3, New Jersey, Stevens 5 (Guerin), 9:14.

Shots on goal-New Jersey 10-16-13-39. Pittsburgh 5-12-6-23.Power-play opp.-New Jersey 0 of 3; Pittsburgh 0 of 5.Goalies-New Jersey, Brodeur 31-26-12 (23 shots-21 saves), Pittsburgh, Wregget 19-12-2 (39-38).A-17,229 (17,181).

Whalers 3, Islanders 1

Hartford, Conn.

Andrei Nikolishin and Brendan Shanahan scored in the final 3 minutes to lead Hartford to a win and extend New York’s losing streak to eight games.

Nikolhin fired the puck past Islanders goalie Eric Fichaud to break a tie. Two minutes later, Shanahan provided an insurance goal when he scored on the blast from the left point.

N.Y. Islanders 1 0 0 - 1

Hartford 1 0 2 - 3

First period-1, Hartford, Kapanen 5 (Ranheim, Nikolishin), 17:34. 2, New York, Palffy 39 (McInnis, Green), 19:11 (pp).

Second period-No scoring.

Third period-3, Hartford, Nikolishin 14 (Ranheim, Kapanen), 17:00. 4, Hartford, Shanahan 40 (O’Neill), 18:56.

Shots on goal-New York 12-7-7-26. Hartford 6-15-11-32.Power-play opp.-New York 1 of 4; Hartford 0 of 4.Goalies-New York, Fichaud 6-9-0 (32 shots-29 saves). Hartford, Burke 26-26-6 (26-25).A-13,628 (15,635).

Canadiens 3, Senators 1

Kanata, Ontario

Montreal, keyed by Jocelyn Thibault’s strong goaltending, moved into fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a win over Ottawa.

The victory was the eighth in 11 games for the Canadiens.

Montreal 1 2 0 - 3

Ottawa 1 0 0 - 1

First period-1, Montreal, Odelein 2 (Bureau, Quintal), 5:32 (sh). 2, Ottawa, Yashin 14 (Duchesne, Alfredsson), 19:55 (pp).

Second period-3, Montreal, Rucinsky 29 (Rivet, Bure), 3:44. 4, Montreal, Recchi 26 (Wilkie, Turgeon), 11:30 (pp).

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-Montreal 13-9-2-24. Ottawa 8-16-11-35.Power-play opp.-Montreal 1 of 10; Ottawa 1 of 9.Goalies-Montreal, Thibault 25-15-4 (35 shots-34 saves). Ottawa, Rhodes 11-24-4 (24-21).A-18,500 (18,500).

Lightning 2, Panthers 1

Miami

Daren Puppa made 26 saves - many of them in one-on-one situations - to lead visiting Tampa Bay past intrastate rival Florida.

The Lightning’s victory gave them 79 points - the same as Boston. The Bruins play today at Buffalo.

Tampa Bay 2 0 0 - 2

Florida 0 1 0 - 1

First period-1, Tampa Bay, Zamuner 15 (Hamrlik, Bradley), 3:05. 2, Tampa Bay, Ulanov 2 (Bellows, Gratton), 5:22.

Second period-3, Florida, Sheppard 34 (Svehla, Lindsey), 6:46.

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-Tampa Bay 11-12-8-31. Florida 8-13-6-27.Power-play opp.-Tampa Bay 0 of 2; Florida 0 of 4.Goalies-Tampa Bay, Puppa 25-14-8 (27 shots-26 saves). Florida, Vanbiesbrouck 23-17-7 (31-29).A-14,703 (14,503).

Maple Leafs 4, Oilers 3

Edmonton, Alberta

Doug Gilmour scored twice and Felix Potvin made 35 saves as Toronto beat Edmonton.

The win lifted the Leafs into the sixth spot in the Western Conference with 74 points.

Toronto 2 2 0 - 4

Edmonton 1 2 0 - 3

First period-1, Toronto, Gill 7 (Clark, Sundin), 4:24. 2, Edmonton, Ciger 31 (Arnott, Weight), 10:59 (pp). 3, Toronto, Gilmour 29, 18:39 (pp).

Second period-4, Edmonton, Arnott 25 (McCammond), 2:04. 5, Toronto, Domi 7 (Sundin, Warriner), 7:16. 6, Toronto, Gilmour 30 (Clark, Gill), 10:05. 7, Edmonton, Weight 25 (Slegr, Dufresne), 15:03.

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-Toronto 8-16-5-29. Edmonton 18-10-10-38.Power-play opp.-Toronto 1 of 6; Edmonton 1 of 4.Goalies-Toronto, Potvin 27-24-11 (38 shots-35 saves). Edmonton, Joseph (6-5), Gage 1-5-1 (16:43 first, 23-20).A-16,437 (16,230).

So far, Gretzky no great help

The Wayne Gretzky trade obviously hasn’t worked out so far the way St. Louis coach Mike Keenan envisioned it. Not only is Gretzky still unsigned for next year, but the anticipated happy marriage with Brett Hull has already ended in a trial separation.

Not that anybody’s blaming Gretzky - or even Hull, who simply has been unable to adjust his game after years of having to be his own playmaker.

“If you can’t play with Gretzky, who can you play with?” pondered Keenan. “Brett hasn’t done much with Wayne. Prior to the trade, we were playing really well and really hard. It just hasn’t worked out very well. Brett said he’s confused so we’ll try him with (Peter) Zezel.”

Bure likely to return

It’s looking more and more as if Pavel Bure will be back in the lineup for the Vancouver Canucks in time for the playoffs, if not sooner. Bure, who tore up his right knee against the Chicago Blackhawks in the United Center on Nov. 9, practiced in full gear last week and Peter Twist, the club’s strength coach, acknowledged, “He’s definitely quite a bit ahead of schedule. But it’s still day-to-day, week-to-week. We want to err on the side of caution.”

“I feel great on the ice,” said an enthusiastic Bure after his first workout. “The most difficult part right now is I feel like I can play, but I’m not the doctor. He’s the one who was inside the knee. He says maybe I’ll play soon, maybe I won’t.”