NHL Roundup : Ciccarelli, Scoring Star of North Stars, Leads 7-4 Win Over Flames

Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux are getting most of the headlines, but the Minnesota North Stars have a player almost as adept as the two superstars at putting the puck in the net.

He is right wing Dino Ciccarelli. Ciccarelli, a seven-year veteran with a career high of 55 goals in a season, is off to a blistering start.

He scored his 12th and 13th goals, putting him just one behind Lemieux, Tuesday night at Bloomington, Minn., to lead the North Stars to a 7-4 victory over the Calgary Flames. Ciccarelli’s goal late in the second period tied the game at 3-3.

Just 16 seconds later, defenseman Frantisek Musil, a defector from Czechoslovakia, scored his first National Hockey League goal after getting a pass from Ciccarelli to give the Stars a lead they never relinquished.

Musil, a big (6-3) backliner who plays a more physical game than most Europeans, was playing in his ninth NHL game. General Manager Lou Nanne of the North Stars helped the 21-year-old defenseman defect last July.

Ciccarelli, who also scored the final Minnesota goal late in the game, is the No. 3 scorer in the league with 19 points.

“Things happen around the net,” Ciccarelli said in explaining why he is the team’s scoring leader. “I try to create things by going to the net. So far this season, it has paid off often.”

The Flames took a one-goal lead three different times, only to have Minnesota (4-4-1) rally resolutely each time. The North Stars, after going 0-2-1 in their first three games, have pulled into second place in the Norris Division.

Toronto 2, Chicago 1--The Maple Leafs found they could play pretty well without their top defenseman, Borje Salming, but they were glad to have Salming’s services in this game at Toronto.

Salming was suspended for the first eight games this season because he admitted to the Toronto Star last spring that he had experimented with cocaine several years ago.

He didn’t get a point, but Salming helped tighten the Maple Leaf defense. Russ Courtnall assisted on the first Toronto goal and scored the winner with 5:29 left as the Maple Leafs improved their record to 4-2-3, best in the Norris Division.

“I’m happy to play again,” Salming, 35, said. “The drug thing and the suspension are not something I want to talk about. It’s over and I’m looking forward to being a part of the success we’re having.”

Hartford 5, Pittsburgh 2--The Whalers weren’t able to slow down the sizzling Lemieux at Hartford, Conn., but they managed to outplay the rest of the Penguins.

Lemieux scored both Penguin goals to run his total to 14 in 10 games. But the Whalers, with Ray Ferraro leading the way, handed the Penguins their second defeat.

Ferraro scored twice in the third period and assisted on a goal by Torrie Robertson as the Whalers erased a 2-2 tie.

In five previous games with the Whalers, Lemieux, a third-year pro, had made only one goal.

New York Islanders 2, Philadelphia 1--With veteran netminder Billy Smith suffering from a back injury, it has been up to Kelly Hrudey to carry the load for the Islanders.

Hrudey stopped 28 shots and Uniondale, N.Y., and became a winner when rookie Brad Lauer knocked in a backhander from the slot to break a 1-1 tie in the first minute of the final period.

Smith has been unable to workout since Friday because of a stiff back. The team said he hurt it in a private workout at a club on Long Island, but the club director said that Smith was fine when he left the club after the workout.

It was only the second loss for the Flyers and their hot young goalie, Ron Hextall. Hextall stopped 33 shots.

Washington 5, Vancouver 2--Rookie center Michal Pivonka scored two goals to help the Capitals win at Vancouver.

Pivonka scored on a deflection in the first period. The 20-year-old defector from Czechoslovakia got his sixth goal in 10 games with a snap shot in the second period.

The other Washington goals were by Lou Franceschetti, defenseman Rod Langway and Craig Laughlin, who scored into an empty net as the Capitals stretched their unbeaten streak to five games.

The Canucks (2-6-1) went winless for the third straight game despite goals from Moe Lemay and Rich Sutter.