NHL ROUNDUP : Penguins Overheat, Devils Just Get Hot

Forward Claude Lemieux has a way of annoying the New Jersey Devils’ opponents.

Just a little nudge of his leg annoyed the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

Boy, did it annoy them.

More than half an hour after the Devils scored five third-period goals to defeat the Penguins, 7-3, several Pittsburgh players were still screaming at Matt Pavelich, one of the NHL’s supervisors of officials, outside the officials’ dressing room.

The topic was Lemieux and his goal at 7:24 that tied the score, 3-3.

Tom Chorske sent a pass toward Lemieux, standing at the right corner of the net. He tried to steer it past goalie Tom Barrasso with his stick, but the puck hit off his shin and went into the net.

The Penguins maintained that Lemieux kicked the puck into the net. No, referee Don Koharski said, even after the game, and Pavelich said replays were inconclusive.

“I was three feet away,” Koharski said. “It was legal. I’m adamant.”

Koharski said he never asked for a replay, nor was he asked to do so by the replay official.

The Penguins’ level of play dropped immediately, especially in the final 5:26 when Scott Niedermayer, Lemieux, John MacLean and Alexander Semak all scored.

“It was a very questionable goal,” Penguin defenseman Marty McSorley said. “We stopped playing and started arguing. We completely lost our composure. That should not happen with that much time left in the game.”

Washington 6, Tampa Bay 3--Peter Bondra, who had scored 14 goals in 40 games, became the 10th player in NHL history to score four in one period, then added another in the second period at Landover, Md.

His four goals in one period, on four consecutive shots in a span of 4:12, matched an NHL record last accomplished by Joe Nieuwendyk for Calgary on Jan. 11, 1989.

New York Islanders 3, Quebec 2--Right wing Yan Kaminsky, playing in his first game for the Islanders, broke a 1-1 tie in the second period, and Travis Green added the winning goal at Quebec.

The Islanders had obtained Kaminsky from Winnipeg Tuesday. He had played in only one other NHL game.

The victory was only the third in the last 10 games for the Islanders.

Boston 4, Philadelphia 0--Jon Casey, whose poor play put his job in jeopardy only three weeks ago, recorded his second shutout in eight days at Boston.

Ray Bourque scored his 15th and 16th goals and added an assist for the Bruins.

The Flyers, losers of six games in a row, haven’t won on the road since the new year began.

St. Louis 4, San Jose 3--Vitali Prokhorov’s goal with 5:53 remaining capped a three-goal rally for the Blues at St. Louis.

The Sharks led, 3-1, before the Blues came back on third-period goals by Kevin Miller, Kelly Chase and Prokhorov.

Prokhorov scored the winner on a shot from the slot when a rebound off the boards landed at his skates.

Montreal 4, Ottawa 3--Lyle Odelein and Gilbert Dionne scored third-period goals for the Canadiens at Ottawa.

It was the Canadiens’ fourth victory in a row and Ottawa’s fourth consecutive defeat.

Detroit 4, Toronto 3--Two goals by Ray Sheppard and one by Sergei Fedorov led the Red Wings to a victory at Toronto that ended an 11-game unbeaten streak for the Maple Leafs. Toronto is 7-1-4 in its last 12 games.

Steve Chaisson also scored for the Red Wings, 7-3-1 in their last 11 games.