NHL Roundup : Coffey Is Hot as Penguins Dunk Islanders, 6-4

Once Paul Coffey gets in shape, the Pittsburgh Penguins should be pretty good.

The All-Star defenseman, who spent the first quarter of the season holding out on the Edmonton Oilers, is playing himself into condition after being traded to the Penguins.

Coffey finally scored his first goal of the season Friday night at Pittsburgh and teamed with Mario Lemieux to lead the Penguins to a 6-4 victory over the New York Islanders. It gave the Penguins their first victory over New York goalie Billy Smith since April 4, 1982.

Lemieux had a goal and four assists, while Coffey assisted on Lemieux’s goal.

In seven games with the Penguins, Coffey, the best offensive defenseman in the league, has 12 assists. More important from his standpoint, the Penguins are 5-1-1.

The Penguins are certain Coffey is the ingredient that has been missing all those losing seasons. They’ve been over .500 only four times in 20 seasons, and not at all in the last eight seasons.

“I’m not concerned about statistics,” the 26-year-old Coffey said. “All I care about is helping the Penguins win. So far, I’ve helped, but I should do even more when I get in top condition.”

With Coffey leading the way, the Penguins have pulled over .500 (12-11-5).

The Islanders scored first, but the Penguins scored four in a row, including Lemieux’s 25th of the season. The flurry ended Smith’s string. He had gone 12-0-2 since losing in the last game of 1982.

Calgary 5, New Jersey 1--Hakan Loob and Jim Peplinski each scored twice in the second period, and the Flames went on to hand the Devils only their second home loss in 15 games.

Even when they weren’t good enough to lead the Smythe Division, the Flames always enjoyed success at East Rutherford, N.J. This win made their record there 7-1-1.

With the score tied, 1-1, Peplinski knocked in Joe Mullen’s rebound at 12:57 of the second period. Loob scored twice in the next four minutes, once with his team short-handed, and Peplinski scored again with 14 seconds left in the period to end the scoring.

Detroit 3, Philadelphia 3--Bob Probert scored his 12th goal with 6:10 left in regulation at Detroit to give the Red Wings the tie.

The Flyers jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second period, but the Red Wings, on a goal by Jeff Sharples, cut the lead to a goal.

It appeared that even with backup goalie Mark LaForest in the nets, the Flyers would prevail. Probert spoiled that after Steve Yzerman intercepted a clearing pass to set it up.

Edmonton 2, Vancouver 1--The wide-open style that helped the Oilers win three Stanley Cups has not been successful this season. They are trying something new--tight checking to go with the superb goaltending of Grant Fuhr.

Fuhr stopped 26 shots in this game, but his string of 124 scoreless minutes ended when Greg Adams scored at 6:17 of the third period.

Jari Kurri scored what proved to be the winning goal for the Oilers late in the second period.

Winnipeg 3, Quebec 3--Michel Goulet scored his 18th goal with 21 seconds remaining in regulation at Winnipeg to get the Nordiques a hard-earned tie. The tie gave Winnipeg a 5-0-2 record in overtime games this season.