NHL ROUNDUP : Penguins Complete a Busy Night by Beating Jets

Before the game, the Pittsburgh Penguins scratched star center Mario Lemieux.

After the game, they bolstered their forward line by acquiring center Shawn McEachern and right wing Tomas Sandstrom from the Kings for defensemen Marty McSorley and Jim Paek.

In between, the Penguins beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3, Tuesday night at Pittsburgh.

Lemieux did not play because of his sore back. He played twice over the weekend and had three goals and an assist in his first action since Nov. 7. He missed 38 games during that stretch with back-related problems.

Craig Patrick, Penguin general manager, said the Penguins will adopt a new safety-first policy regarding Lemieux.

“We are going to be very cautious the rest of the year,” he said. “If there’s any type of soreness, we’re not going to have him play. Today he was a little sore and we don’t want to take the risk.”

Pittsburgh’s Tom Barrasso got his 253rd victory, making him the winningest U.S.-born goalie in NHL history.

St. Louis 3, Vancouver 2--Brett Hull tied the game with his 40th goal and then got the game-winner with 5:44 to play at St. Louis.

Hull made it 2-2 at 4:38 of the third period with a 40-foot wrist shot. Jim Montgomery assisted on the winner, getting the puck to Hull above the right circle.

The Canucks have lost three of their last four games and fell to 28-28-2.

Toronto 5, Detroit 4--Wendel Clark’s power-play goal at 2:55 of overtime lifted the Maple Leafs at home.

The victory moved Toronto two points ahead of Detroit and idle Dallas atop the Central Division. The Maple Leafs’ 71 points is also tops in the Western Conference and second overall behind the New York Rangers (76).

With Steve Chaisson off for holding in overtime, Clark rifled a wrist shot from the high slot past Tim Cheveldae on a power play for his 27th goal of the season.

Detroit forced overtime when Ray Sheppard scored his 42nd goal of the season with eight seconds remaining in regulation.

New York Islanders 2, Tampa Bay 1--Mick Vukota and Steve Thomas scored 49 seconds apart for the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

The Lightning outshot the Islanders, 10-0, in the third period but couldn’t tie the game. It was the first time since Jan. 17, 1979, that New York had been held without a shot for an entire period.

Ron Hextall stopped 21 shots for the Islanders, who are 5-2-1 in their last eight games.

The Lightning lost for only the third time in their last 12 road games (8-3-1).

Edmonton 2, Washington 2--Bill Ranford stopped 41 shots at Landover, Md., where the struggling Oilers snapped Washington’s four-game winning streak and earned a rare point on the road.

Zdeno Ciger and Shayne Corson scored power-play goals for the Oilers, who ended a four-game skid despite taking only 17 shots. Edmonton has an NHL-worst 3-18-7 road record.

Dale Hunter and Kelly Miller scored for the Captials, 7-1-1 in their last nine games. Goalie Don Beaupre, who faced only five shots in the final 25 minutes, had his five-game winning streak broken.

Philadelphia 6, San Jose 4--Rookie Mikael Renberg scored three goals in the third period to rally the Flyers at San Jose.

It was Renberg’s first hat trick in the NHL.

He scored the go-ahead goal, slapping home a rebound with 10:41 to play. Five minutes later, Renberg scored again, slapping the puck into the net from the crease.

The loss ended San Jose’s franchise-best four-game winning streak and pulled the Flyers out of a 1-8-1 tailspin.