NHL Roundup : Islanders Keep Streak Going Against Devils

Do the New Jersey Devils have to pass through the Bermuda Triangle on their trips to meet the New York Islanders?

Saturday night at Uniondale, N.Y., Pat LaFontaine and Mikko Makela scored third-period goals as the Islanders ran their home unbeaten streak against the Devils to 11-0-1 with a 4-2 victory.

New York’s record is 35-1-3 over this franchise since the Devils entered the NHL as the Kansas City Scouts in 1974-75. New Jersey hasn’t won at Nassau Coliseum since Dec. 11, 1984.

The Islanders led, 3-1, early in the third period after LaFontaine beat Alain Chevrier with a power-play shot from the right circle at 3:13. Makela then made it 4-1 when he scored on a breakaway with 9:58 left.

Kirk Muller added a power-play goal for New Jersey on a rebound with 5:12 remaining to close out the scoring. The goal, scored with the Devils on a two-man advantage, was Muller’s 10th in his last 6 games and 22nd of the season.

Boston 5, Buffalo 1--The Bruins, 6-2-2 in their last 10 games, remained one point ahead of Montreal in the Adams Division with a victory at Boston, where Cam Neely scored his second hat trick of the season.

The Bruins, who outshot Buffalo, 36-24, killed nearly seven consecutive minutes in penalties, including two short spans while at a two-man disadvantage, before Neely went in alone to beat goalie Tom Barrasso on a backhander with 4:34 left in the game. Neely completed the scoring by beating Barrasso from the top of the right circle with six seconds remaining for his 25th goal of the season.

Buffalo, beaten, 9-0 and 2-0, in two meetings with Boston in late December, ended a scoreless string of 186 minutes 22 seconds against the Bruins in the second period on Phil Housley’s 18th goal. But the Sabres had few other scoring chances.

Pittsburgh 4, Toronto 3--Mario Lemieux scored one goal and set up two others at Toronto as the Penguins broke a 10-game winless streak.

The Maple Leafs are 0-7-4 in their last 11 games and are two short of tying the team record for most games without a victory, set in 1985. The victory broke an 0-6-4 slide for the Penguins.

Lemieux, the NHL’s leading scorer, has 45 goals and 50 assists for 95 points.

Minnesota 4, Detroit 2--The North Stars and Red Wings, teams headed in opposite directions, switched roles at Bloomington, Minn.

The outcome snapped Minnesota’s eight-game winless streak and Detroit’s eight-game unbeaten streak, the Red Wings’ longest since 1972. They had also won five straight coming in.

Quebec 4, Chicago 1--Anton Stastny scored a power-play goal and set up another, and Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny had two assists each at Quebec as the Nordiques broke the Blackhawks’ four-game unbeaten streak.

Chicago hasn’t won in Quebec since Nov. 27, 1982.

Quebec held a 2-1 lead going into the third period, when Stastny and Steven Finn scored less than four minutes apart to put the game away. The Nordiques easily outshot the Blackhawks in the third period, 15-2, and in the game, 41-15.

Montreal 4, New York Rangers 3--The Canadiens’ Ryan Walter and Chris Chelios scored 65 seconds apart in the first period at Montreal as the Rangers had their winless streak extended to five games.

St. Louis 3, Washington 1--Cliff Ronning, playing in his first game since returning from the Canadian Olympic team, scored the go-ahead goal late in the first period at St. Louis to lift the Blues, winners of two in a row after five straight losses, into sole possession of second place in the Norris Division.