NHL Roundup : Penguins Avenge Only Loss, Down Flyers, 4-2

The Pittsburgh Penguins figured turnabout was fair play.

So, the Penguins, knocked out of the unbeaten ranks by the Philadelphia Flyers Thursday night, returned the favor.

With Mario Lemieux having a hand in three of the goals, the surprising Penguins beat the Flyers, 4-2, Saturday night at Pittsburgh.

While improving their record to 8-1, the Penguins stopped the Flyers’ season-opening winning streak at six games. The Penguins, one of five teams that failed to make the playoffs last spring, had won seven in a row when the Flyers beat them, 5-3.

Lemieux, developing into one of the stars of the league at 21, in just his third season, set up Doug Bodger for two goals and scored his 12th in nine games, in the first period, to give the Penguins a lead they never relinquished.

It was all by way of a celebration for Coach Bob Berry. The Penguins, in appreciation of the job he has done, extended the contracts of both Berry and his assistant, Jim Roberts, through next season.

The split of the two games with the powerful Flyers would seem to indicate the Penguins are for real.

Lemieux has 24 points in nine games. He has assumed leadership of the improved Penguins.

“Our team is a lot different from the one of last year,” Lemieux said. “It has more character, more talent. We are learning to play hard for the full 60 minutes. Thursday night we didn’t do it and we lost. But, we’re learning.”

The Penguins, who lost 12 games before they won for the eighth time last season, lead the tough Patrick Division by four points over the Flyers.

Bodger, a 20-year-old defenseman, has five goals. In his two previous seasons (144 games), he scored only nine goals.

Washington 2, New Jersey 1--Everything is coming together for the Capitals, much earlier than usual. With defenseman Larry Murphy scoring the winning goal halfway through the final period at Landover, Md., the Capitals stretched their unbeaten streak to four games.

The Capitals are 3-0-1 after opening the season by losing four of their first five. The usual pattern is for the Capitals to wait until about the 10th game of the season to start playing well.

Hartford 3, Buffalo 2--Ray Ferraro, who did not score his first goal this season until Friday night, scored two more at Hartford to lead the Whalers to their second win in two nights over the sagging Sabres.

Ferraro, who scored 30 goals last season, broke a scoreless tie with a power-play goal early in the second period. Later in the period, Ferraro scored again.

Montreal 3, New York Rangers 3--Guy Carbonneau scored his second goal of the game early in the third period at Montreal to get the Canadiens the tie.

The Rangers, who have gone into overtime in six of their eight games, outshot Montreal, 3-1, in overtime, but couldn’t win. In the six games the Rangers are 1-2-3.

Carbonneau grabbed a pass in the air and made like a hitter, batting the puck into the net for the tying goal.

Quebec 4, Toronto 3--Defenseman Robert Picard smashed a shot off goalie Ken Wregget’s chest and into the net with 7:06 remaining at Quebec to give the Nordiques the victory.

The win enabled the Nordiques to increase their lead in the Adams Division to four points.

Detroit 3, St. Louis 1--It was a pretty good weekend for Jacques Demers in his first games against the team he coached last season.

With Petr Klima scoring twice in the first period at St. Louis, the Red Wings gave their new coach a victory to go with Friday night’s tie. The Red Wings moved ahead of the Blues into second place in the Norris Division, just one point out of first place.