NHL Roundup : Lemieux, Penguins Beat Flyers, 7-0

Mario Lemieux virtually nailed down his first National Hockey League scoring championship, but his Pittsburgh Penguins are having a tougher time trying to make the playoffs.

Lemieux scored his 59th goal and added two assists Saturday night at Pittsburgh to lead the Penguins to a 7-0 victory over the injury-riddled Philadelphia Flyers.

In handing the Flyers their fifth consecutive defeat, Philadelphia’s longest losing streak in 17 years, the Penguins improved to 31-32-9 but remained in fifth place, one point behind the New York Rangers in the Patrick Division.

The three points put Lemieux 17 points ahead of Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, who has won the last seven scoring titles.

Penguin rookie Zarley Zalapski scored his first goal and had three assists.

There were 22 power-play opportunities in the game, with the Flyers going 0 for 12. Ten fighting penalties were called.

The shutout went to Steve Guenette, playing his 13th NHL game. He stopped 33 shots, nearly half of them when the Flyers had a man advantage.

The Penguins scored four power-play goals in 10 opportunities.

The Penguins, one of five teams that failed to qualify for postseason play last season, are within one point of last season’s total.

They play a big game tonight at Philadelphia, where they have not fared well in recent years. In their last 39 games at the Spectrum, the Penguins are 0-36-3.

New York Rangers 4, Toronto 3--Marcel Dionne and Michel Petit scored second-period goals at Toronto, and the Rangers held on for the victory.

Dionne’s goal, his 30th, broke a 2-2 tie 6:08 into the period. It marked the 14th time in his career that the former King had scored 30 or more goals in a season.

Petit scored on a 15-foot blast at 11:29 to make it 4-2. Russ Courtnall scored early in the third period to cut the lead to a goal.

Hartford 5, St. Louis 3--Ron Francis had a goal and an assist at St. Louis as the Whalers moved within one point of fourth place in the Adams Division.

The Blues’ veteran center, Bernie Federko, had an assist to reach 1,000 points. He is the 21st player to do so.

Calgary 5, Quebec 4--The Flames spotted the Nordiques two goals midway through the first period at Quebec, then battled back for the victory.

Hakan Loob’s 47th goal after more than two minutes of overtime enabled the Flames to stay ahead of the Montreal Canadiens in the bid for the best overall record. Both teams have seven games remaining, and the Flames lead in points, 96-95.

Montreal 3, Chicago 0--Patrick Roy turned aside 19 shots at Montreal, and the Canadiens stretched their unbeaten streak to 13 games (12-0-1).

Rookie Gilles Thibaudeau scored on a first-period power-play goal, and Roy went on to record the Canadiens’ third straight shutout on home ice.

Buffalo 4, Boston 3--Another fine performance by goaltender Tom Barrasso gave the Sabres hopes of overtaking the Bruins and finishing second in the Adams Division.

The Bruins scored a short-handed goal and two power-play goals in the first period at Boston but couldn’t touch Barrasso thereafter.

Barrasso stopped the last 22 shots as the Sabres moved within five points of the Bruins.