NHL ROUNDUP : Penguins Unleash Robitaille

Pittsburgh acquired Luc Robitaille in July to replace some of the prodigious offense of the sidelined Mario Lemieux.

It paid off Thursday night as Robitaille scored four goals in the first two periods and the Penguins ran their season-opening unbeaten streak to 13 games with a 5-2 victory over the Hartford Whalers at Pittsburgh.

The four-goal game was the third of Robitaille’s career.

“I’m realizing that playing with these guys, all I’ve got to do is get open,” Robitaille said.

Jaromir Jagr assisted on all four of Robitaille’s goals and has a league-leading 28 points.

The Penguins’ 12-0-1 start ties the third-best in NHL history and is two games shy of the Edmonton Oilers’ record 15-game unbeaten run in 1984-85. All three teams that opened with unbeaten streaks of 13 games or longer went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Pat Verbeek scored both of Hartford’s goals.

New York Rangers 2, Montreal 2--The Rangers, unable to hold a third-period lead for the fourth time this season, settled for the tie at New York when the Canadiens’ Benoit Brunet scored.

New York, 1-3-1 when leading after two periods, also surrendered a goal to Craig Conroy, his first in the NHL.

Mark Messier and Stephane Matteau had New York’s goals.

Quebec 4, Philadelphia 2--The Nordiques, the league’s best penalty killers, killed all three of the Flyers’ power plays at Philadelphia in extending their winning streak to seven games.

The Nordiques have allowed only three goals on 53 opponents’ power plays this season.

Quebec’s Owen Nolan accounted for the first two goals, beating goalie Ron Hextall twice. Joe Sakic and Wendel Clark also scored.

Stephane Fiset stopped 38 shots.

Rod Brind’Amour and Mikael Renberg scored the Flyers’ goals.

Chicago 2, Calgary 2--Sergei Krivokrasov scored two power-play goals in the final 8:11 of regulation as the Blackhawks rallied to tie the Flames at Chicago.

Jeff Hackett replaced ineffective Chicago goalie Ed Belfour and stopped all 16 shots he faced, including third-period breakaways by Wes Walz and Theoren Fleury.

Hackett entered after Belfour allowed goals by Paul Kruse and Fleury in a 1:12 span.

Calgary’s Trevor Kidd made 29 saves.