NHL ROUNDUP : Blackhawks’ Success Is No Surprise to Keenan

The Chicago Blackhawks, who have the best record in the NHL, might be a surprise to some people, but not to Coach Mike Keenan.

“We are playing the way I expected,” Keenan said after a 4-1 victory for his team over the Penguins Tuesday night at Pittsburgh.

Troy Murray, Steve Larmer and Mike McNeill scored goals in a four-minute span of the third period to break it open and improve Chicago’s record to 21-10-2.

After Larmer’s goal at 10:49 gave the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead, Pittsburgh goalie Frank Pietrangelo blew his cool. Apparently believing he was interfered with by a Chicago player on Larmer’s goal, Pietrangelo argued with referee Mike Hudson, slammed his stick against the goal cage and was ejected.

Two minutes after Wendell Young replaced Pietrangelo, McNeill scored the final goal.

The Blackhawks are 9-2-1 in their past 12 games. They have 44 points and lead the Norris Division by six points over St. Louis.

“We improved to 41 victories last season, and I’m not surprised we are doing better,” Keenan said. “I’m not gloating, though. I think we can play better.

“We have to improve our special teams, do a better job with defensive zone coverage and upgrade our communications skills.”

Calgary 5, Minnesota 4--Al MacInnis, the top scoring defenseman in the league, had a goal and two assists at Bloomington, Minn., to extend his scoring streak to seven games.

MacInnis helped the Flames, leaders of the Smythe Division, build a 5-1 lead in the first minute of the last period.

The North Stars refused to quit. They scored three times in seven minutes and were only a goal behind with more than five minutes left.

Winnipeg 3, St. Louis 3--Phil Sykes scored early in the third period at St. Louis to enable the Jets to tie for the fourth consecutive game. It was their fifth tie in the past seven games.

The Blues dominated the five-minute overtime, but couldn’t put any of its seven shots in to win it.

Geoff Courtnall, who had not scored for 13 games, had a goal for the Blues and assisted on the other two.

Detroit 8, Buffalo 3--Steve Yzerman, a little slow to reach his stride this season, is finally starting to roll.

He had two goals and three assists at Detroit to lead the romp that made it easy for goalie Glen Hanlon.

Hanlon, making his fourth start since being brought back from San Diego in late November, blocked 28 shots.

With Yzerman getting the first two goals, the second with Detroit short-handed, the Red Wings scored five times in the second period and the Sabres were out of it.

Rookie Keith Primeau, the third player taken in the draft last spring, scored his first NHL goal for the Red Wings.

New York Islanders 3, New Jersey 2--Ray Ferraro scored his second goal of the game with 42 seconds left in regulation at Uniondale, N.Y., and the Islanders ended their seven-game winless streak.

The Islanders dominated the first two periods and led, 2-0, six minutes into the final period. But, Brendan Shanahan and Claude Lemieux scored on power plays, and it seemed the teams were headed for overtime.

Ferraro took a pass from Bill Berg and, using teammate Tom Fitzgerald as a screen, faked goalie Chris Terreri and shoveled the puck into the open net.

Washington 4, Philadelphia 1--Dino Ciccarelli, who missed 20 games because of a thumb injury, is back in form.

Ciccarelli, in only his third game since getting off the injured list, had a goal and an assist at Landover, Md.

The Capitals are 8-4-0 in the past 12 games, and the Flyers have lost four of their past five. The Capitals are 5-0-1 in the past six games with the Flyers.