NHL ROUNDUP : Red Wings Still Can’t Solve Whalers’ Liut

When they aren’t in a slump, the Detroit Red Wings don’t want to go up against goaltender Mike Liut.

Predictably, the Red Wings, in their worst skid in five years, couldn’t fathom Liut. He stopped 26 shots to lead the Hartford Whalers to a 3-0 victory Tuesday night at Detroit. It was the Red Wings’ sixth loss in a row and extended their winless streak to 11 games.

Liut’s NHL-leading third shutout of the young season improved his record against the Wings to 24-11-5.

The Red Wings came out determined to end their slump. They outskated and outplayed the Whalers in the first period, but Liut broke their hearts. He stopped point-blank shots from Steve Yzerman, Jimmy Carson, Shawn Burr and Brent Fedyk in the first 10 minutes.

By the time Ron Francis scored the first of three power-play goals at 14:08 of the first period, the Red Wings were a beaten team.

The Red Wings, who won the Norris Division title last season, are 4-12-3. Nobody has a worse record and their 11 points leave them 18 points out of first place.

Liut, who didn’t figure in the Whalers plans until he proved outstanding at training camp, is 7-5-1 and his 2.22 goals-against average is best in the league.

Pittsburgh 6, New York Rangers 0--After spending most of the first six weeks at home building a flossy record, the Rangers thought they were ready to hit the road.

Apparently, they weren’t. They shot so poorly that goaltender Wendell Young of the Penguins posted his first shutout in the NHL.

Even Mario Lemieux, deep in a slump, scored as the Penguins, 1-3 on their recent trip, improved to 6-10-2. Lemieux, who had 20 goals in his first 18 games last season, has 10 this season.

Philadelphia 5, New York Islanders 4--Former King Jay Wells scored his first goal of the season midway through the third period at Philadelphia to give goalie Ron Hextall his first win of the season.

Hextall, suspended for the first 12 games, was injured in his first game back. He stopped 23 shots in his second start.

“I’m rusty,” Hextall said. “But it’s expected after playing only one game in nearly two months.”

Hextall said he was upset when he inadvertently struck teammate Ron Sutter in the eye with his stick. Sutter, his left eye swollen shut, left the game.

Winnipeg 5, Quebec 3--The Jets scored twice in less than a minute in the middle of the third period at Quebec to break open a tight game.

Randy Cunneyworth snapped a 3-3 tie at 8:51 and defenseman Teppo Numminen scored at 9:43 for the two-goal win.

Washington 4, Vancouver 4--Jim Sandlak scored the tying goal with 11:21 remaining in regulation as Vancouver rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits to tie Washington.

Petri Skirko forced a turnover behind the Capitals’ net and fed Sandlak, who beat Bob Mason with a high backhander for his sixth goal of the season.

Steve Leach scored twice for Washington, which blew leads of 3-1 and 4-2.