NHL Roundup : Nieuwendyk Has 5 as Flames Win

Joe Nieuwendyk’s explanation was simple.

“Anything I shot out there tonight, I was getting good wood on it,” he said Wednesday night after scoring 5 goals in the Flames’ 8-3 victory over the Winnepeg Jets at Calgary, Canada.

Nieuwendyk set a Flame single-game record for goals. His 4 goals in the second period tied a National Hockey League record, accomplished eight times previously.

Nieuwendyk scored Calgary’s first goal at 6:39 of the second period and then scored three more times in the final 2:31 of the period.

He is the first player to score 4 goals in a period since Al Secord of Chicago did it against Toronto Jan. 7, 1987.

Nieuwendyk scored twice on breakaways, twice on power plays and once shorthanded. He has 31 goals this season. Nieuwendyk scored 51 last season and was named the NHL rookie of the year.

There were 254 penalty minutes called, including 132 in the second period. There were eight majors called for fighting.

Montreal 1, New Jersey 0--Mats Naslund’s goal, his 19th, at 10:18 of the second period, ruined a brilliant performance by Sean Burke, who stopped 23 shots, several of them from point-blank range, at Montreal. Replacing Patrick Roy, who twisted his knee in practice, Montreal goaltender Brian Hayward stopped 15 shots and improved his record to 11-8-3.

Washington 3, Toronto 2--The Capitals have played better games this season, but this victory at Toronto was the most satisfying.

Rookie John Druce, a native of Ontario, had 2 goals in his first NHL game at Maple Leaf Gardens and they led the Capitals into first place in the tough Patrick Division race.

Chicago 2, Detroit 2--Dave Manson scored on a power play midway through the last period at Chicago to give the Blackhawks a tie.