NHL ROUNDUP : Disciplined Blackhawks Win Again

The Chicago Blackhawks are the hottest team in the NHL at the moment, having won 10 of their last 12 games.

But Blackhawk Coach Mike Keenan prefers to think of his team as disciplined, rather than streaky. Chicago showed that control Saturday night, beating the New York Islanders, 5-3, at Uniondale, N.Y.

“We’re playing very well within our system,” Keenan said. “We’re playing very disciplined hockey right now.”

The Blackhawks, who lead the NHL with 13 victories and 27 points, are in first place in the Norris Division.

Steve Larmer scored two goals in the second period after the Islanders’ Dave Chyzowski had the only goal of the first period. Adam Creighton of Chicago scored at 12:30 of the second period to break a 2-2 tie.

The Blackhawks outshot the Islanders, 24-11, in the last two periods and finished with a 32-19 advantage.

Toronto 4, Detroit 2--Ed Olczyk scored two goals and Al Iafrate had three assists as the Maple Leafs extended the Red Wings’ winless streak to 10 games.

The Red Wings are 0-7-3 since Oct. 19--two games shy of the club-record winless streak set during the 1984-85 season.

The loss at Toronto was Detroit’s fifth in a row, marking the first time the team has lost five straight since Jacques Demers took over as coach at the start of the 1986-87 season.

Shawn Burr gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal in the second period.

But 16 seconds later, Iafrate fed Rob Ramage, whose shot hit the heel of John Kordic’s stick and went past goaltender Glen Hanlon to tie the score.

Ed Olczyk’s wrist shot at 11:53 put the Leafs ahead to stay.

Quebec 3, Vancouver 2--Guy Lafleur reached another milestone when he scored his 544th career goal with 4:54 remaining, giving the Nordiques the win at Quebec City.

The goal moved Lafleur, who spent most of his career with Montreal, into a tie for eighth place on the all-time goal-scoring list with another former Montreal star, Maurice Richard, who retired from the Canadiens in 1960 as the NHL’s all-time leader in goals.

Peter Stastny and Marc Fortier also scored for the Nordiques. Vladimir Krutov and Greg Adams scored for the Canucks.

Ron Tugnutt blocked 21 of 23 shots to earn the win. Vancouver’s Kirk McLean faced 31 shots.

Philadelphia 7, New Jersey 5--Ron Sutter and Rick Tocchet each had two goals as the Flyers outscored the Devils at East Rutherford, N.J.

Tocchet gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 1:55 of the first period and scored his second goal with 7:42 remaining in the game.

Sutter had a shorthanded goal in the first period and scored what proved to be the game-winner 17 seconds into the final period.

Edmonton 5, Washington 3--Craig McTavish scored twice and Esa Tikkanen snapped a third-period tie as the Oilers handed the Capitals their second home loss in two nights.

McTavish scored 27 seconds into the game, and the Oilers added goals by Kevin Lowe and Craig Simpson to take a 3-1 lead after two periods.

But the Capitals got goals from Dino Ciccarelli and Yvon Corriveau in the first two minutes of the third period to tie the game, 3-3.

Tikkanen quickly put the Oilers back in front to stay when he stole the puck in the Capitals’ zone and beat goaltender Don Beaupre. MacTavish added a power-play goal at 7:33.

St. Louis 8, Pittsburgh 3--Adam Oates and Brett Hull each had two goals and goaltender Greg Millen earned his 200th career victory as the Blues extended their unbeaten streak to eight games.

Hull added two assists for the Blues, who are 5-0-3 since Oct. 24. It’s their longest unbeaten streak since they went nine games without a loss in 1984-85.

Millen, a 12-year veteran who is 7-3-3 this season, stopped 21 shots in the game at St. Louis.

Mario Lemieux had a goal and two assists for the Penguins, scoring in his sixth consecutive game.

Minnesota 3, Calgary 2--Brian Bellows’ goal 3:39 into overtime lifted the North Stars over the Flames, ending Calgary’s nine-game unbeaten streak against the North Stars.

It was Minnesota’s first victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Flames since Oct. 28, 1986, ending an 0-6-3 streak.

Bellows beat Mike Vernon between the pads after a pass from Neal Broten to give the North Stars their eighth win in nine games this season at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minn.

Minnesota’s Mike Modano had tied the game midway through the third period with a power-play goal.