NHL Roundup : Coffey Has 3 Assists in a 6-4 Win

Paul Coffey had not played in a game since the Canada Cup series last September, but it didn’t prevent him from making an auspicious debut with the Penguins Wednesday night at Pittsburgh.

The All-Star defenseman, acquired from Edmonton in a major trade Tuesday, assisted on three goals, including Ron Brown’s game-winner, to lead the Penguins from a 4-0 deficit to a 6-4 victory.

Coffey, playing a full shift on defense and also participating in power plays, and Mario Lemieux brought the Penguins roaring back with 4 goals in 10 minutes of the third period.

Lemieux had two goals and an assist in the five-goal third period. Coffey assisted on two of them. Lemieux scored the tying goal at 10:16, and less than two minutes later, on a power play, Coffey set up Brown to break the tie.

“It felt strange to be in a different uniform in a way,” Coffey said, “but actually, it’s been a while since I was with the Oilers.

“That was a nice feeling when the fans gave me a hand even before the game started. It’s nice to be appreciated.”

Anton and Peter Stastny led the Nordiques’ early assault, which drove Gilles Meloche out of the Pittsburgh nets. He gave up 4 goals in 12 shots and was replaced by Steve Guenette with 8:16 left in the second period. The Nordiques had only four more shots the rest of the game.

New Jersey 8, Edmonton 7--Just when it appears that the Devils’ bubble is about to burst, they come back with a stirring performance.

New Jersey rallied for two goals in the third period to tie the game, and just 13 seconds into overtime at Edmonton, Canada, Aaron Broten scored to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions.

It was the Devils’ first victory in eight tries at Edmonton since moving to New Jersey.

Broten, who finished with two goals and three assists, scored a short-handed goal at 12:53 of the third period to cut the deficit to 7-6. He then set up Kirk Muller for the tying goal on a power play at 16:44.

The Oilers used all four players obtained in the Coffey trade, but only rookie Chris Joseph contributed. He had two assists.

Detroit 10, Winnipeg 8--Going into this game at Detroit, the Red Wings had the weakest attack in the league. They had scored only 56 goals in 19 games and only 2 in the last 3.

The Red Wings trailed, 6-3, early in the final period, then scored six goals in 7:41 to hand the Jets their fifth defeat in six games.

Paul MacLean had a hat trick for the Jets, but he was overpowered by the last-period rally.

Montreal 6, Hartford 5--Stephane Richer climaxed a rally at Hartford, Conn., by scoring the winning goal with 6:12 left.

The Whalers, last in the Adams Division, held a 5-2 lead over the division leaders with less than three minutes remaining in the second period.

Philadelphia 5, Buffalo 2--Craig Berube’s first NHL goal snapped a tie in the third period at Philadelphia, and Dave Poulin clinched the win with two goals in two minutes.

While the tough Flyer defense was holding the Sabres to just 20 shots on goal, the Flyers bombarded Tom Barrasso with 41 shots.

New York Rangers 5, Toronto 3--Kelly Kisio scored the 100th goal of his career as the Rangers won for the third time in their last four games after a nine-game winless string.

It took third-period goals by Brian Mullen and Marcel Dionne at New York to clinch the victory. Dionne has 15 goals for the Rangers.

Washington 4, Boston 1--Defenseman Kevin Hatcher scored two goals and assisted on another at Landover, Md., as the Capitals ended the Bruins’ seven-game winning streak.

The Bruins had won four in a row on the road, but from the time Hatcher scored at 1:47 of the first period until the finish, the Capitals dominated play.

St. Louis 4, Minnesota 3--Rick Meagher scored at 1:19 of overtime at Bloomington, Minn., to hand the fading North Stars their seventh loss in eight games.

Scott Bjugstad tied the score for the North Stars when he lifted a rebound over Blue goaltender Greg Millen with 61 seconds left in regulation.

Calgary 4, Vancouver 2--Hakan Loob scored three goals, and the Flames took the Smythe Division lead from Edmonton by turning back the Canucks at Vancouver.

Loob’s first goal gave Calgary a 2-1 lead at 9:53 of the second period. He scored again at 17:52 for a 3-1 lead and capped the scoring at 19:13 of the third period with his 11th goal of the season after the Canucks had closed to 3-2 on a goal by Tony Tanti.