NHL Roundup : Flyers Win Their Eighth in a Row; Ron Sutter Stars

Ron Sutter’s second goal of the game broke a 3-3 tie Tuesday night at Pittsburgh and the sizzling Philadelphia Flyers went on to gain a 5-3 victory, their eighth win in a row.

The Penguins held a 2-1 lead going into the last period, but a 45-foot blast by Ilkka Sinisalo tied the game, and at 7:40 Sutter took a pass from Dave Poulin and fired in the winner from the top of the slot. Murray Craven scored into an empty net with less than a minute remaining.

The Flyers, 15-3-0 in their last 18 games, lost their top scorer, Tim Kerr, because of a knee injury last week but have since won five in a row. They lead the Patrick Division by six points with nine games to play.

“I wish the playoffs started tomorrow,” Sutter said. “We’ve got a lot of momentum going. Coming from behind the way we did indicates we haven’t lost any of our fire.

“We did it against a goaltender (Denis Herron) who was having a big game. He stopped 23 shots in the first two periods.”

The loss was a bitter blow to the Penguins. A victory would have put them just three points behind the New York Rangers in the battle for the last playoff spot in the Patrick Division.

The Penguins have 10 games remaining but five points to make up.

Washington 4, New Jersey 1--Bob Carpenter and Mike Gartner each had a goal and an assist at Landover, Md., to lead the Capitals.

Goaltender Al Jensen lost his bid for a second consecutive shutout when Paul Gagne scored six minutes into the last period.

It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Devils and all but eliminated them from the playoffs. They trail the Rangers by seven points.

The goal for Carpenter was his 49th of the season. He has nine more games in which to score the goal he needs to become the first American-born player to score 50 goals in a season.