NHL ROUNDUP : Hull Suffers Injured Spleen in Blues’ Win

Brett Hull’s season got off to a rough start Thursday night when he injured his spleen and was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests during the St. Louis Blues’ 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers at St. Louis.

Hull, who has led the NHL in goals three of the last four seasons, apparently was injured in the first period when he was hit from behind while in the slot during a power play. He aggravated the injury midway through the second period and was bent over as he skated off the ice.

Brendan Shanahan had three goals, including the tiebreaker early in the third period for the Blues, but it wasn’t a great night to remember for two Blues’ stars. Besides Hull’s injury, goalie Curtis Joseph was run over by Bill Lindsay after Lindsay’s backhand shot with 28 seconds to play in the second period. There was no penalty on the play.

Shanahan scored once on the power play, once while both teams were a man short, and finished his third career hat trick with an empty-net goal from his knees with 1:11 to play.

Buffalo 5, Boston 3--Pat LaFontaine scored twice to lead the Sabres at Boston.

Buffalo’s Grant Fuhr, 0-3 with a 4.11 goals-against average in exhibition games, rebounded with a sharp performance, turning away 36 shots. Cam Neely cut the lead to 4-3 on Boston’s 18th shot of the third period with 4:03 left, but Buffalo’s Bob Sweeney restored the two-goal lead with 2:09 to go.

Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1--Joey Mullen scored at 1:13 of overtime and goaltender Ken Wregget was perfect against 25 shots in two periods of relief at Pittsburgh. Ron Francis bumped Lyle Odelein off the puck behind the net and centered to Mullen, who whipped a quick shot through Patrick Roy’s legs for his second goal of the season. Roy had stopped 37 of 38 shots in regulation.

Wregget came in at the start of the second period after starter Tom Barrasso left because of a groin injury.

New York Rangers 5, Tampa Bay 4--Esa Tikkanen’s second goal broke a 3-3 tie at 6:37 of the third period at New York and the Rangers posted their first home victory since March 19.

Tikkanen slipped James Patrick’s centering pass behind Lightning goaltender Pat Jablonski. Brian Leetch added a power-play goal four minutes later and Glenn Healy preserved the victory by making a crucial stop on Shawn Chambers in the game’s final second. New York had lost its last seven home games last season and this season’s home opener Tuesday night.

Toronto 6, Dallas 3--Consecutive goals by Nikolai Borschevsky, Todd Gill and Rob Pearson broke a third-period tie at Toronto. Dave Andreychuk scored two other Toronto goals, both on power plays. Wendel Clark added an empty-net goal with 51 seconds left.

Mike Modano, with two goals, and James Black scored for Dallas, which opened its season with a victory Tuesday night over Dallas.

Calgary 6, San Jose 2--Theoren Fleury scored as part of a six-goal second-period barrage at Calgary. Fleury put the Sharks ahead to stay at 2-1 in the second period. The Sharks are 0-2 under new Coach Kevin Constantine, who replaced the fired George Kingston.