NHL Roundup : Jets Zoom to Sole Possession of First, 3-1

A year ago, the Winnipeg Jets and the Pittsburgh Penguins were two of the easy marks in the National Hockey League. The good teams could coast to victory against them.

When the Jets and Penguins clashed Tuesday night at Winnipeg, it was a meeting of two of the top teams this season.

Paul MacLean and Fredrik Olausson scored first-period goals as the Jets, shutting out high-scoring Mario Lemieux, beat the pesky Penguins, 3-1, and took over sole possession of first place in the Smythe Division.

The Jets (12-6-1) have won four games in a row and eight of their last nine to move ahead of the Edmonton Oilers. Despite the loss, the Penguins (11-6-2) are only a point behind Philadelphia in the Patrick Division.

The league is starting to take notice of the Jets. After they won a hard-fought battle from his team Sunday night, New York Islander star Brent Sutter sounded a warning.

“Dan Maloney has the Jets playing with the same intensity and desire he had Toronto playing with in the playoffs last spring,” Sutter said. “They were on us all night, and that’s Maloney’s style.”

New York Islanders 4, Quebec 3--Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier formed the best one-two punch in hockey until Wayne Gretzky came along to form a new best one-two: Gretzky and anyone else.

Injuries have slowed Bossy and Trottier in recent seasons, but lately they have been more like their former selves.

In this game at Quebec, they staged a dramatic finish to give the Islanders the victory. There was only half a second left in regulation when Bossy set up Trottier for the tying goal.

Then, with 15 seconds left in overtime, it was Trottier passing to Bossy in the slot and Bossy banging in his 12th goal of the season to win it.

Bossy also scored on an assist from Trottier earlier in the third period.

Bossy, who is bidding for a record 10th consecutive 50-goal season, has 11 goals in the last 10 games. Trottier has 16 points in those 10 games.

Bossy, who missed five games early in the season because of a back injury, has five goals in the last three games.

St. Louis 4, Minnesota 3--Bernie Federko scored in the second period at Bloomington, Minn., then assisted on two third-period goals for the Blues.

The North Stars led, 3-2, going into the final period. But Ric Nattress knocked in the rebound of Federko’s shot in the first minutes. Then, halfway through the period, Greg Paslawski broke the tie when he jammed in a pass by Federko from in front of the net.

The victory extended the Blues’ unbeaten string to four games.

Vancouver 5, Calgary 0--Petri Skriko scored two short-handed goals within 71 seconds in the second period at Vancouver to complete a hat trick. Richard Brodeur stopped 24 shots for his first shutout.