NHL ROUNDUP : Oilers Lose Seventh in a Row

It took two years, but the Edmonton Oilers recovered from the departure of Wayne Gretzky and won the Stanley Cup last spring.

This season, after losing two more stars, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier, they might again need a long time to recover. Kurri has gone back to Europe to play, but Messier will be back. The question is when. The Oilers’ leader was sidelined indefinitely by a knee injury in the fifth game of the season.

With Brett Hull scoring his 17th goal, the Blues handed the Oilers a club-record seventh consecutive defeat, 2-1, Tuesday night at St. Louis.

The Oilers were frustrated by St. Louis goaltender Vincent Riendeau until he was hit in the head with a puck and had to leave with 7:41 remaining. He had a 2-0 lead and was working on his second shutout in nine days when Charlie Huddy’s drive hit him in the mask.

His replacement, Curtis Joseph, gave up a goal 24 seconds after entering the game.

During their seven-game losing streak, the Oilers have scored only seven goals.

Messier and Kurri combined for 78 goals and 222 points last season.

Hartford 1, Chicago 1--Pat Verbeek scored early in the third period at Hartford to get the Whalers, who have not won since Oct. 17, even.

In their seven-game winless streak, the Whalers (4-8-3) have been outscored, 26-8.

Goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz of the Whalers stopped 29 shots.

Washington 4, Quebec 1--Peter Bondra scored twice at Quebec as the Capitals handed the Nordiques their seventh loss in a row.

Goaltender Mike Liut lost his shutout when Lucien DeBlois scored with 5:40 left in the game. It ended Quebec’s scoreless string of 134 minutes.

Pittsburgh 6, Calgary 5--Paul Coffey scored on a power play with 14 seconds left at Pittsburgh to cap a three-goal burst that rallied the Penguins in the third period.

The Flames outshot the Penguins, 38-20, but Pittsburgh converted two of its six opportunities when the Flames were a player short.

New York Islanders 4, Toronto 3--In a meeting of two of the league’s worst at Uniondale, N.Y., Randy Wood scored twice for the Islanders, who improved to 5-10-0. The Maple Leafs are 2-14-1.

Philadelphia 4, Winnipeg 2--Rick Tocchet scored the go-ahead goal in the third period at Winnipeg and assisted on the final goal a few minutes later.

Tocchet’s 11th goal capped a six-minute spurt at the start of the third period in which the Flyers outshot the Jets, 11-0.

Vancouver 6, Detroit 3--The Canucks scored four goals in the third period to pull away from the Red Wings at Vancouver.