NHL Roundup : Once Bruins Start Hitting, It’s Too Late; Flyers Win, 6-4

Goalie Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers said he had a harder time fending off Boston Bruins intent on banging into him than stopping 37 shots in Saturday’s 6-4 victory at the Boston Garden.

Trailing 6-0 after two periods, the Bruins decided to do a better job of checking the wandering Hextall, and it almost worked. The Bruins scored four times in the third period.

Hextall, who in a game against Boston on Dec. 8 became the second NHL goalie to score a goal, was hit numerous times after taking his routine excursions out of the crease.

“If he wants to act like a player, we’ll treat him like a player,” Boston’s Keith Crowder said. “If he roams around like that he’s going to get hit.”

Hextall was assessed 14 penalty minutes, increasing his NHL high for goaltenders to 88. He was given a 10-minute misconduct in the third period.

“They hit me five times,” Hextall said. “They felt in the third period they had momentum going and the referee wasn’t going to call anything on them. They hit me in the first and second periods as well, but the third they felt the referee wasn’t going to call it, and they were right.”

Scott Mellanby scored twice in a 52-second span late in the first period and also had two assists to lead the Flyers, who drove Boston starting goalie Reggie Lemelin to the bench at the end of one period.

NY Islanders 3, Edmonton 2--Alan Kerr scored the tiebreaking goal at 7:39 of the third period at Uniondale, N.Y., as the Islanders snapped a 10-game winless streak against the Oilers.

The Islanders were 0-6-4 in their last 10 regular-season meetings with the Oilers since last beating Edmonton on Feb. 7, 1984. The win also snapped a three-game losing streak for the Islanders.

Playing without Wayne Gretzky, who suffered a knee injury on Dec. 30, the Oilers are 4-4-4 in their last 12 games after going 23-12-3 with Gretzky in the lineup.

Goalie Kelly Hrudey, an Edmonton native, had 26 saves, several on point-blank opportunities. He made a game-saving stop by gloving a 10-foot shot by Jari Kurri at 11:54 of the third period after Kurri was sent in alone.

Pittsburgh 4, Montreal 3--Charlie Simmer banged in a rebound 29 seconds into overtime, capping a three-goal rally that gave the Penguins a victory over the Canadiens at Montreal.

It was the fourth straight victory by Pittsburgh, all on the road--equaling a team record. The Penguins also ended an 0-8-2 drought at Montreal.

Rookie goalie Frank Pietrangelo made 43 saves for Pittsburgh, while Brian Hayward had 26 for the Canadiens, including a glove stop on Lemieux’s breakaway midway through the final period to preserve the 3-3 tie.

Another rookie, Steve Gotaas, scored his first two NHL goals, including one at 2:52 of the third period which pulled the Penguins into a 3-3 tie.

Calgary 4, Detroit 4--Defenseman Mike O’Connell scored with 4:19 left to give the Red Wings a tie at Detroit.

O’Connell’s goal, his fifth of the season, came after rookie Brett Hull, the son of Bobby Hull, scored his second goal of the game with 4:49 remaining to give Calgary a 4-3 lead.

Hull now has 20 goals in 40 games.

Calgary managed only one shot during the scoreless overtime.

St. Louis 5, Quebec 3--Tony McKegney scored three times and Bernie Federko had the tiebreaking goal at 10:31 of the third period as the Blues beat the Nordiques at Quebec.

Goalie Greg Millen of St. Louis faced 37 shots, while the Blues had only 14 at Ron Tugnutt.

Hartford 5, Minnesota 0--Paul MacDermid scored two goals and Dave Tippett had three assists at Hartford as the Whalers won their four straight.

The Whalers scored all of their goals in the first period. Four of the goals came on seven shots against goalie Don Beaupre in the first 5:08 of the game.

Goalie Mike Liut of Hartford stopped 33 shots for his second shutout of the season and 19th of his career.

Buffalo 3, Washington 3--Mike Gartner’s power-play goal late in the second period lifted the Capitals to a 3-3 tie with the Sabres at Landover, Md.

Gartner scored his 31st goal of the season by tapping in a cross-ice pass from Dale Hunter.

The Capitals, who entered the NHL in 1974, are 5-40-8 lifetime against the Sabres and 0-3-2 against Buffalo at the Capital Centre since Nov. 11, 1984.

Chicago 3, Toronto 2--Steve Thomas scored a goal and added an assist, and goaltender Darren Pang made 48 saves as the Blackhawks won at Toronto to extend the Maple Leafs’ winless streak to a club-record 14 games.

The Maple Leafs have lost five straight and have not won since Dec. 23.