NHL ROUNDUP : Blackhawks Comfy on Long Island

The Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., continues to be the Chicago Blackhawks’ home away from home, but neither Coach Mike Keenan nor his players know why.

“I wasn’t aware of it and it wasn’t something we focused on,” Keenan said after the Blackhawks extended their unbeaten streak on Long Island to seven games with a 3-1 victory Saturday.

Chicago goaltender Jacques Cloutier faced only 22 shots, but made several outstanding saves, especially against Brent Sutter, who had the Islanders’ lone goal but was stopped three times in the final period.

Cloutier’s counterpart, Glenn Healy, was much busier, as the Blackhawks got 45 shots.

The score was 1-1 until former Islander Greg Gilbert capitalized on a defensive giveaway for the go-ahead goal with 8:45 remaining in regulation.

Derek King gave away the puck in front of the Blackhawk net and Gilbert stuffed it past Healy for his ninth goal.

Toronto 5, New Jersey 4--Gary Leeman scored his 40th and 41st goals of the season to help the Maple Leafs beat the Devils at Toronto.

Dan Marois, John McIntyre and Ed Olczyk also scored for Toronto.

Brendan Shanahan had two goals and Kirk Muller and Sylvain Turgeon one apiece for the slumping Devils, who are 1-4-2 in February.

New Jersey outshot Toronto, 45-25, but Maple Leaf goaltender Alan Bester was superb.

As expected, there were a number of fights, since the stage had been set in the two previous games.

On Oct. 23, there were two prolonged fights between goaltenders Sean Burke of the Devils and Mark Laforest of the Maple Leafs. And on Jan. 26, Devil defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov delivered a check on Wendel Clark that injured his right knee and put him out for the season.

St. Louis 6, Detroit 1--Brett Hull scored his league-leading 56th goal and rookie goalie Curtis Joseph came within 22 seconds of his first NHL shutout as the Blues won at St. Louis for their fifth consecutive victory.

The victory kept St. Louis tied for first in the Norris Division with the Blackhawks.

St. Louis is 10-1-2 since the All-Star game. Detroit was unbeaten in its previous four games.

Joseph, making his fourth consecutive start but only his seventh overall, earned his first NHL point when he and Adam Oates combined to set up Jeff Brown’s third-period power-play goal.

Montreal 7, Hartford 3--Claude Lemieux and Brent Gilchrist each scored two goals as the Canadiens scored their league-leading 22nd home-ice victory.