NHL ROUNDUP : Nicholls Has Three Goals in Devil Victory

Bernie Nicholls, working his way through a troubled season, scored three goals as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Ottawa Senarors, 7-1, Saturday night at Ottawa.

Nicholls, still recovering from the Nov. 19 death of his infant son, Jake, to spinal meningitis, hadn’t scored since Nov. 5 and has seven goals in 22 games this season.

“Obviously it’s a tough time in my career; 1993 was definitely the worst,” Nicholls said. “That’s behind me now and I’m just looking forward. Hopefully, 1994 will be a little better.”

Corey Millen, Stephane Richer, Bill Guerin and Tom Chorske also scored as the Devils moved into a tie with Toronto for second place overall in the NHL with 48 points, seven behind the New York Rangers. The Senators remain last with 19 points, eight behind Edmonton.

The Senators had eight players scratched from their lineup because of injuries.

New Jersey outshot Ottawa, 11-1, through the opening six minutes but goaltender Craig Billington held his former teammates to one goal during that initial onslaught--Millen’s open-netter on a rebound at 3:24.

Nicholls, a 70-goal scorer with the Kings in 1988-89, made it 2-0 Devils at 16:26 when he emerged from the penalty box to take a breakaway pass and blast it between Billington’s pads.

Hartford 4, N.Y. Islanders 3--Geoff Sanderson scored two power-play goals and Andrew Cassels had a goal and two assists to help the Whalers win at Uniondale, N.Y.

The Islanders lost despite a season-high 54 shots on goal against the Whalers’ Sean Burke.

“I felt busy, not exhausted,” Burke said. “You like to be in the game and get the first couple of shots early.”

Burke, who started for the 10th time in 11 games, faced 22 shots in the first period and gave up two goals--both on the power play--to Benoit Hogue and Derek King.

Sanderson broke a 3-3 tie at 7:13 of the third period. His shot from the right circle went between the pads of Ron Hextall.

Hartford scored three times in four power-play chances against the third-worst power-play defense in the NHL.

“Our penalty killing--I don’t know what to say, but it’s got to get better,” said Hextall, who faced 33 shots. “It’s atrocious.”

Tampa Bay 5, Washington 5--The Lightning got two goals from Petr Klima at Landover, Md., in matching its best offensive output of the season, and the Capitals got two from Mike Ridley in stretching its unbeaten streak to four games.

Tampa Bay, a team that specializes in defense, led, 4-3, after one period, but wasn’t at all pleased with the direction in which the game was headed.

“It’s great to score four goals, but it’s not great when you give up three. What good is that?” Lightning goalie Pat Jablonski said. “That’s not our style. That’s not our game plan.”

The Lightning went ahead, 5-3, on Petr Klima’s second goal of the game midway through the second period, but the Capitals rallied, getting goals from Dale Hunter and Mike Ridley to salvage a tie.