NHL ROUNDUP : High-Scoring Penguins Stunned by Devils

The Pittsburgh Penguins are on a pace to score more than 370 goals this season. That’s more than 4.5 goals per game.

It also makes their performance Thursday night at East Rutherford, N.J., even more surprising.

The Penguins, led by Mario Lemieux and Kevin Stevens, the top scorers in the league, took only one shot on goal in the first 20 minutes, and 16 for the game as they were shut out by Craig Billington and the New Jersey Devils, 4-0.

Scott Stevens, who scored twice in the Devils’ 7-4 victory at Pittsburgh Tuesday night, scored one of the four goals for the close-checking Devils.

Billington, 8-1-1 in 10 starts this season, posted his second shutout. The Devils (19-14-6), fourth in the Patrick Division, have 44 points, more than any second-place team.

Winnipeg 3, Boston 1--Frederick Olausson scored the tiebreaking goal five seconds after Bruin goalie Reggie Lemelin was hurt in the third period at Boston.

With the score tied, 1-1, Lemelin injured his leg making a save and was carried off on a stretcher. Olausson sent a 40-footer whizzing past his replacement, Matt DelGuidice, to give the Jets a 2-1 lead with 6:41 left. Sixty-four seconds later, Paul McDermid scored to make it 3-1.

Cam Neely, who missed the first 38 games because of a leg injury, scored the tying goal for the Bruins two minutes before Lemelin, the league’s oldest goalie at 38, was hurt.

Eariler in the day, the Bruins made a move toward youth, trading defenseman Garry Galley to Philadelphia for defenseman Gord Murphy.

New York Rangers 4, Chicago 3--Mark Messier continues to play well in the clutch for the Rangers.

He scored twice, including one with his team short-handed, at Chicago and the Rangers held off the Blackhawks.

Messier’s two goals helped the Rangers, who took over first place in the Patrick Division, build a 4-0 lead in the second period.

The Blackhawks scored three times in the last period, but when Brent Sutter cut the lead to 4-3, there were 71 seconds left to play and Chicago didn’t get another chance.

Ranger goalie Mike Richter stopped 44 shots, including all 30 he faced in the first two periods.

St. Louis 6, Minnesota 1--Brett Hull scored his 38th goal early in the second period at St. Louis to break a 1-1 tie, then set up Adam Oates for a score on the next shift.

The Blues, losers to the North Stars Monday night, turned the game into a rout in the last period.

The North Stars had gone 5-1-0 in their previous six games to climb to .500.

Hartford 4, Quebec 1--The Whalers’ Peter Sidorkiewicz stopped 27 shots at Hartford and the Nordiques stretched their club record-winless streak on the road to 18 (0-14-4).

Pat Verbeek scored twice and John Cullen had a goal and an assist to lead the Whalers.