NHL ROUNDUP : Mullen Gives Rangers an Assist in 5-3 Win

The New York Rangers spent the off-season brooding over their failure to advance past the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

They vowed to prove that it was no fluke they won the competitive Patrick Division title last spring.

Now they are off to a fast start.

Brian Mullen assisted on four goals Thursday night at New York as the Rangers came from behind to beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-3.

The Rangers’ sixth consecutive victory at Madison Square Garden matches their best home start. In 1983, they also won their first six home games. The Rangers, who have won seven of their last eight, are 8-3-0 and with 16 points, are the overall leader in the NHL.

The Flyers, trying to get above the .500 mark on the road, led, 3-2, going into the third period. But in the first minute, former King Bernie Nicholls converted a goalmouth feed from Mullen into the tying goal.

With a little more than six minutes remaining, Kevin Miller took a cross-ice pass from Mullen and beat Ken Wregget with a quick shot.

Darren Turcotte set up the Rangers’ second goal to extend his scoring streak to all 11 games this season.

St. Louis 8, Toronto 5--Hot-shooting Brett Hull became the first player in Blues’ history to have back-to-back hat tricks.

Wednesday night at Toronto Hull scored his third goal midway through the third period. In this game at St. Louis, he had three goals after 21:14 of play.

The first was a fluke when the puck bounced into the net off his skate, but he blasted home the other two to give him 13 in 10 games this season. He led the league last season with 72 goals.

It was the third loss in a row for the Maple Leafs. The Blues scored 16 goals in the two-game series.

Chicago 3, Washington 2--Eight seconds after the overtime faceoff at Chicago, Steve Larmer stole the puck and scored his ninth goal of the season to give the Black Hawks their seventh victory in 11 games.

Larmer also scored Chicago’s first goal in the opening minute of the second period. But most of the night the Capitals dominated.

The Capitals, who never trailed until overtime, led, 2-1, until defenseman Chris Chelios tied it in the third period.

Calgary 4, Edmonton 2--Mark Hunter scored twice at Calgary and the Flames moved to within one point of the Kings in the Smythe Division.

The Oilers, who are 0-3-1 on the road this season, are in last place, nine points behind the Kings. It was the third loss in a row for the Stanley Cup champions.

New Jersey 5, Buffalo 1--The home teams are enjoying a big advantage in the early going this season.

The Devils, with Kirk Muller getting a goal and two assists, improved to 6-0-1 at home and kept the pressure on the Rangers. The Devils (7-3-1) trail the Rangers by only a point.

The Devils broke the game open with three goals in three minutes midway through the last period.

Chris Terrari stopped 28 shots to win for the sixth time in his last seven starts.

Boston 4, Vancouver 2--In a recent four-game trip, the Bruins were outscored, 26-4, so they were happy to return home.

Although the Canucks challenged in the closing minutes, the Bruins ended the four-game losing streak with their third victory without a loss at Boston.

Reggie Lemelin had a 3-0 lead and was bidding for his 12th career shutout, but gave up a goal to Trevor Linden with 2:48 to play. A minute later, the Canucks scored again after pulling goalie Troy Gamble. An empty net goal ended the rally with four seconds left.

Pittsburgh 6, Quebec 3--Kevin Stevens had a hat trick and the Penguins scored on their first four shots at Pittsburgh to end a four-game winless streak.

Rookie goaltender John Tanner left after Stevens’ first goal made it 3-0 at 12:45 of the first period. Stevens’ second score was on the Penguins’ first shot at Tanner’s replacement, Ron Tugnutt.

Stevens scored his other goal halfway through the second period.