NHL ROUNDUP : Tikkanen’s Late Goal Gives Oilers 5-4 Win

Edmonton’s Esa Tikkanen scored the game-winning goal 20 seconds after Ron Francis tied it for Pittsburgh, and the Oilers rallied with three third period goals to defeat the Penguins, 5-4, Thursday night at Pittsburgh.

The Oilers, the NHL’s third-lowest scoring team, rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to hand the Stanley Cup champions their fifth home defeat in 30 games.

“I don’t know, maybe they were a little more desperate than we were,” Pittsburgh wing Bob Errey said. “Maybe we’re slipping a little bit. We couldn’t hold a three-goal lead (Sunday) in Buffalo and we couldn’t hold a 2-0 lead tonight.”

Craig Simpson scored twice for the Oilers to offset two goals by Kevin Stevens and end Edmonton’s two-game losing streak.

“We needed this game more than any other game this season,” Simpson said. “Tikkanen’s goal was a huge goal. They scored one and then Tikkanen scored and that was exactly the lift we needed. It was a huge goal.”

Tikkanen, who also had two assists, beat defenseman Kjell Samuelsson to a loose puck in the slot to throw a backhander past goaltender Tom Barrasso for the game-winner at 17:39.

“For Pittsburgh maybe this wasn’t a big game, but for the Oilers it was,” Oiler Coach Ted Green said. “We’re fighting for a playoff spot and I think we showed a lot of people back home that this team has a strong heart and a lot of character. We don’t have as much talent as maybe some of the other Oiler teams, but we have as much heart and commitment as any Oiler team.”

St. Louis 4, New York Islanders 2--Ron Sutter’s tiebreaking goal with 1:56 left in regulation lifted the Blues to a victory over the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

The victory continued the Blues’ recent domination at the Nassau Coliseum, where they are 4-0-1 since a 3-2 loss on Dec. 28, 1989. The loss stopped the Islanders’ two-game winning streak.

“I haven’t played in about a week, and it was important to get a couple of shots early,” St. Louis goaltender Guy Hebert said. “It gets you into the flow of the game.”

Sutter scored on goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick to break a 2-2 tie. Jeff Brown scored an empty-net goal with one second left to seal the victory, the Blues’ first in their last three games.

Earlier, Brian Mullen tied the game at 9:23 for the Islanders.

San Jose 5, Winnipeg 3--Dave Maley scored a goal and assisted on another to help lead the Sharks to a victory over the Jets at San Jose.

Robin Bawa and Rob Gaudreau scored second-period goals for San Jose, which opened a 4-0 lead in the first two periods. Johan Garpenlov scored an empty net goal in the third period for San Jose.

Winnipeg got third-period goals from Stu Barnes and Luciano Borsato.

Arturs Irbe made 32 saves for the Sharks, who defeated the jets for the second time in five days. San Jose has two victories in its last 20 games, both against Winnipeg.

Winnipeg has lost its last six games.

Philadelphia 3, Vancouver 2--Kevin Dineen scored his second goal of the game with two seconds remaining and the Flyers came-from-behind with two third period goals to defeat the Canucks at Vancouver.

Dineen beat Vancouver goalie Kay Whitmore to score the game-winning goal after Canucks’ defenseman Adrien Plavsic overskated the puck. Dineen’s heroics came after Philadelphia’s Greg Paslawski tied the game earlier in the third period.

The Flyers won despite being outshot by the Canucks, 30-21. Philadelphia goalie Tommy Soderstrom made 28 saves as the Flyers ended a four-game winless streak (0-2-2) and are 2-0-3 in their last six trips to Vancouver.

Pavel Bure scored his 48th goal of the season for the Canucks, who also got a goal from Robert Kron.

Dineen got his first goal in the opening period to pull the Flyers into a 1-1 tie before a sellout crowd that came to watch Flyers’ rookie standout Eric Lindros.

Lindros, with 24 goals and 44 points in 34 previous games, was held pointless and almost cost the Flyers the game with a giveaway a minute before Dineen’s heroics.

The victory pulled the Flyers to within eight points of the fifth-place Islanders in the Patrick Division.