NHL Roundup : Oilers, Seeking Sun, Burned by Penguins, 5-2

The Edmonton Oilers are on a trip in which they play four games in six nights. As a reward, they have been promised four days in the sun at Phoenix before concluding the journey with a game at Vancouver.

The Oilers must have been dreaming about Phoenix, because they didn’t have their minds on hockey Tuesday night at Pittsburgh.

The Penguins, battling desperately to earn a playoff spot, scored four times in the first period and skated to a surprisingly easy 5-2 victory over the Oilers.

John Chabot and Craig Simpson scored fewer than two minutes apart early in the game, and Simpson assisted on Warren Young’s power-play goal late in the period. Dan Frawley flipped a 10-foot shot over goaltender Andy Moog’s left shoulder to make it 4-0 shortly thereafter.

The Oilers needed a two-man advantage in the second period to finally score against goalie Pat Riggin. Paul Coffey took a pass from Wayne Gretzky and beat Riggin from the left faceoff circle. But most of the night, Riggin had the game under control.

Mario Lemieux returned to action after missing four games because of severe bronchitis. He wasn’t really a factor in the game, however.

It is the plight of the Penguins to be playing in a tough division, the Patrick. Although they have 56 points, they still are in fifth place, two points out of a playoff spot.

The Penguins have won two in a row after losing five in a row. Simpson, a second-year center, has been a key player in each of them.

“With Mario ailing, I had to do more,” said Simpson, after scoring his 24th goal. “We are in a desperate situation and we have to win even when our best player is out. Otherwise, we aren’t going to make the playoffs.”

For the Oilers, it was the second loss in a row on the trip. In both defeats the Oilers gave up four goals in the first period and could never catch up.

“We may be in a slump,” Gretzky said, “but I believe in giving a team credit when it plays well. They played extremely well, and we played bad. When you get that combination, it’s a bit of a lopsided game.

“That’s three games out of four that we’ve played poorly, and we’ve got to get our act together. We have to go into the playoffs playing solid, not making the mistakes we made in the first period.”

New York Rangers 6, Buffalo 3--The Sabres appeared to be on their way to a sixth consecutive victory when they jumped in front, 3-1, midway through the second period at Buffalo.

But Pierre Larouche scored his 26th goal to get the Rangers back into the game, and they broke it open with four goals in the last period. Former Sabre Tony McKegney, who scored the Rangers’ first goal, scored twice more in the last period for a hat trick.

The Sabres outshot the Rangers, 38-22, but couldn’t get one past goalie John Vanbiesbrouck in the last 30 minutes.

Washington 8, Detroit 2--Rookie David Jensen had his first two-goal game and a dozen of his teammates had at least one point at Landover, Md., as the Capitals skated to an easy win over the Norris Division leaders.

The Capitals scored twice before the game was six minutes old and chased goaltender Greg Stefan when they scored on two of their first three shots in the second period to increase their lead to 6-0.

The Capitals had a 7-0 lead before Tim Higgins spoiled goalie Pete Peeters’ bid for a shutout in the first minute of the last period.

Quebec 5, Minnesota 4--Risto Siltanen scored two power-play goals and assisted on two other Nordique goals at Quebec City to prevent the North Stars from moving into a tie for first place in the Norris Division.

With the sizzling Sabres finally losing, the Nordiques moved six points in front in the battle for the final playoff berth in the Adams Division.

The North Stars, who scored first, scored the last two goals, but the goals came too late to do anything but make the final score close.

St. Louis 3, New York Islanders 2--Bernie Federko, playing in only his fourth game since missing a month with a broken jaw, was the key player in the Blues’ third win in a row.

Federko assisted on two goals, including the winner by Mark Hunter in the third period. The victory put the Blues into third place, just five games out of first in the Norris Division.

The first Blues’ goal, by Doug Gilmour, came with a two-man advantage after Islander goalie Billy Smith was given two penalties 28 seconds apart.

It was the first win for the Blues over the Islanders in St. Louis since March 6, 1983.

Calgary 2, Vancouver 0--Rejean Lemelin stopped 33 shots at Calgary to extend his undefeated streak to eight games and register his second shutout of the season.

Although they had only seven shots in the first period, the Flames scored on two of them. Steve Bozek fired a 20-footer past goalie Richard Brodeur at 3:15, and just 66 seconds later, Joe Mullen converted Joel Otto’s centering pass into his 37th goal of the season.

Both goaltenders played brilliantly thereafter. Lemelin made 12 saves in the first period and took the fire out of the Canucks.