NHL Roundup : Ruskowski, Lemieux Sink Devils

Until the middle of last season, Terry Ruskowski was known as a solid, playmaking center.

When Pittsburgh Coach Bob Berry shifted Ruskowski to left wing and put him on a line with young Mario Lemieux, the former King became a scoring machine.

With Lemieux setting him up, Ruskowski, now 31 and a 13-year veteran, had a career-high 26 goals last season. He’s starting this season at an even faster pace.

Ruskowski had his first National Hockey League hat trick Saturday night at Pittsburgh to lead the Penguins to an 8-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

It was a club-tying sixth consecutive victory for the Penguins, who are off to their best start.

Lemieux, off to an excellent start in his third pro season, had his second consecutive five-point night--this time with five assists, three on Ruskowski’s hat trick. Friday night, Lemieux had a hat trick and two assists, while Ruskowski had four assists in a 7-3 victory at Buffalo.

In the six games, the one-two punch of Lemieux and Ruskowski has been a key factor. Lemieux has 8 goals and 9 assists and leads the league with 17 points. Ruskowski has 4 goals and 6 assists.

Ruskowski scored goals on consecutive shifts in the middle of the second period, then scored the Penguins’ final goal midway through the last period.

New York Rangers 3, New York Islanders 2--In an effort to speed up play this season, the NHL has cut the time between periods to 15 minutes, a reduction of three minutes. Any team not on the ice ready to play draws a minor penalty.

In this game at Uniondale, N.Y., the Islanders were a few seconds late coming out for the second period, drew a penalty and lost the game because Walt Poddubny scored on the ensuing power play.

Poddubny, acquired by the Rangers during the off-season from Toronto, assisted on the other two goals as the Rangers ended a four-game winless streak with their first victory of the season.

The Islanders’ rookie coach, Terry Simpson, called the penalty crucial.

“We left from the dressing room with 10 seconds left on the clock,” he said. “I’m responsible.”

Toronto 3, Chicago 2--Another team off to a fine start is Toronto. The Maple Leafs improved their record to 3-0-2 when Al Iafrate scored with 5:26 remaining in regulation at Toronto.

The Maple Leafs dominated much of the night and outshot the Blackhawks, 35-21. But Bob Sauve, in the nets for Chicago, played brilliantly to keep his team in the game.

One of the Toronto goals came when the puck bounced off Chicago defenseman Dave Mason and slid past Sauve into the net.

Philadelphia 6, Hartford 3--Peter Zezel scored twice in the second period at Hartford, Conn., to help the unbeaten Flyers win their fourth game in a row. Tim Kerr assisted on three Philadelphia goals.

Buffalo 4, Washington 2--In a battle between two clubs off to poor starts, the Sabres prevailed at Landover, Md. Wilf Paiement scored twice to lead the Sabres, who are 1-3-2. The Capitals fell to 1-4.

Montreal 5, Winnipeg 3--Stephane Richer scored his first two goals of the season and assisted on another at Montreal to lead the Stanley Cup champions to their second win in five games.

The Canadiens had gone almost six periods without a goal when Richer’s long blast eluded former Canadien goaltender Steve Penney midway through the second period.

Detroit 5, Calgary 3--Steve Yzerman set up Joe Kocur for a tie-breaking goal on a power play early in the third period at Calgary, Canada, then scored an empty-net goal with 11 seconds left to make victory certain.

Minnesota 4, Vancouver 1--Finnish rookie Kari Takko made 25 saves at Bloomington, Minn., to gain his first NHL victory and lead the North Stars to their first win of the season.

St. Louis 4, Quebec 3--Ron Flockhart scored the game-winning goal at St. Louis after assisting on two other goals.