NHL ROUNDUP : Nordiques’ Winless Streak on Road Reaches 29

The Quebec Nordiques were on the verge of ending this season’s 28-game winless streak on the road until Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins took control Thursday night.

Jagr, back from a 10-game suspension, had a goal and an assist in the third period as the Penguins rallied to tie the Nordiques, 4-4, at Pittsburgh, extending Quebec’s road winless streak.

The Nordiques have not won a road game since March 10, 1991 when they defeated Hartford, 2-1. They are 0-25-8 on the road since then and 0-22-7 this season.

Jagr got around defenseman Dan Lambert and was stopped by goalie John Tanner, but Ron Francis put in the rebound for the tying goal at 12:14.

Mats Sundin had put Quebec ahead, 4-3, at 10:20 of the third period, wristing a 20-footer past goaltender Tom Barrasso.

Jagr, who was disciplined for bumping referee Ron Hoggarth on Jan. 26, scored his 24th goal 37 seconds into the third period when he beat Tanner with a backhander.

Quebec, which came into the game with the NHL’s least-efficient power play, scored on three of four chances in the second period.

“We were ahead, 3-2, at the start of the third and were scored on in the first shift,” Quebec Coach Pierre Page said. “We’re ahead, 4-3, with seven minutes to go and we make a mistake and give up a goal.

“We keep making the same mistakes. We have some guys who want to feel sorry for themselves, but there’s no sympathy in this league.”

Mario Lemieux played briefly early in the third period, but did not take another shift the rest of the game. He sat on the back of the bench near trainer Skip Thayer. Penguin officials had no immediate explanation for Lemieux’s absence. He missed several earlier games because of a bad back.

New Jersey 4, Chicago 4--Claude Lemieux scored with 36 seconds left and Chris Terreri stopped 42 shots as the Devils tied the Blackhawks at Chicago in a game between two of the NHL’s hottest teams.

The tie extended unbeaten streaks for both teams--6-0-1 for the Devils and 5-0-3 for the Blackhawks, who played their third consecutive tie. The Devils, 15-4-2 in their last 21 games, moved within one point of second-place Washington in the Patrick Division.

The tie extended Terreri’s personal unbeaten streak to 11--9-0-2.

Lemieux scored his game-tying goal from the left circle after the Devils had pulled Terreri in the last minute for a sixth attacker.

Chicago took a 4-3 lead with 2:09 left when Jeremy Roenick knocked in a 10-footer from out front for his 42nd goal.

Detroit 3, Toronto 2--Sheldon Kennedy broke a 2-2 tie with a third-period goal that gave the Red Wings the victory at Detroit.

On the winning goal, Kennedy tipped in Bob Probert’s lead pass, then tripped over the goal post and slammed into the boards.

The Red Wings, who have a four-game winning streak, outshot the Maple Leafs, 32-18, in the first two periods, but did not take the lead until Kennedy’s goal with 11:40 to play.

N.Y. Islanders 6, N.Y Rangers 2--Pierre Turgeon had the fourth three-goal game of his career and also added two assists at Uniondale, N.Y., as the Islanders rebounded from a 9-2 defeat to the Rangers last Friday.

Turgeon extended his point-scoring streak to 17 games--two shy of Mike Bossy’s team record--with the first of his two power-play goals at 16:35 of the first period.

The Islanders, who have won three games in a row, converted four of five power plays to improve to 10-4-1 in their last 15 games.