NHL ROUNDUP : Rochefort Timely for Rangers

Normand Rochefort’s first goal of the season with less than four minutes to play lifted the visiting New York Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night.

The game marked the debut of center Bernie Nicholls with the Rangers. Nicholls, obtained from the Kings during the all-star break for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato, didn’t score and hasn’t since Jan. 1. Nicholls, who played on the power-play and penalty-killing units, was stopped point-blank early in the game by goalie Bill Ranford.

Ulf Dahlen scored two goals and had an assist on Rochefort’s winner. Rookie goaltender Mike Richter stopped 33 shots as the Rangers extended their unbeaten streak to five games (3-0-2).

New Jersey 4, Pittsburgh 2--The Penguins’ Mario Lemieux extended his point-scoring streak to 36 games, but the Devils got three goals in the first period at Pittsburgh.

John MacLean scored twice in the first period for New Jersey.

St. Louis 6, Detroit 3--Brett Hull, the NHL’s leading goal-scorer, got his 43rd and 44th of the season to help the Blues end a three-game losing streak at Detroit.

The Red Wings, 1-5 in their last six games, saw their six-game home winning streak end as Hull scored his 16th and 17th power-play goals, also best in the league.

Buffalo 3, Philadelphia 2--Dave Andreychuk and Rick Vaive scored second-period goals to cap a rally at Philadelphia that extended the Flyers’ winless streak to 10 games. The Flyers are 9-13-1 at the Spectrum.

Winnipeg 4, Washington 3--Greg Paslawski’s unassisted goal with three seconds to play lifted the visiting Jets. Paslawski scored from between the goal line and the bottom of the left faceoff circle seconds after goalie Don Beaupre got caught far out of his net.

Hartford 4, N.Y. Islanders 2--Dean Evason’s two first-period goals helped end the visiting Islanders’ nine-game winning streak.

Boston 9, Quebec 2--Bob Carpenter’s hat trick fueled the Bruins at Boston. Greg Haywood added two goals and Bob Gould, Glen Wesley, Randy Burridge and John Carter also scored for Boston.