NHL ROUNDUP : Hull’s First Four-Goal Game Cools Detroit

Usually, Brett Hull applies the brakes at three goals. On Sunday, facing the league’s hottest team at St. Louis, he needed to be greedy.

Hull scored four goals for the first time in his career to help the Blues defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-5.

Hull has 23 hat tricks--third among active players behind Wayne Gretzky (49) and Mario Lemieux (31). Against the team with the best record in the NHL, Hull couldn’t afford to let up or feed the puck to less-gifted players.

St. Louis also survived a hamstring injury to goalie Curtis Joseph as it ended Detroit’s six-game winning streak and club-record seven-game road winning streak.

Hull scored consecutive goals in the first period to put St. Louis ahead, 3-1.

Philadelphia 4, Pittsburgh 3--Rod Brind’Amour’s goal at 1:30 of overtime capped a wild finish.

The Flyers trailed, 3-2, with 48.3 seconds remaining in regulation at Philadelphia but had a two-man advantage when goalie Ron Hextall was pulled and the Penguins’ Troy Murray was given a major boarding penalty.

Eric Desjardins’ drive from the right point ticked off the stick of Mikael Renberg and bounced by goalie Ken Wregget with 19.9 seconds left to force overtime.

Dallas 2, Chicago 0--Mike Donnelly and Dave Gagner scored power-play goals, and Andy Moog stopped 24 shots for his 21st career shutout as the Stars won at Dallas.

Star defenseman Grant Ledyard will be sidelined at least three weeks after fracturing his right ankle in the game.

New York Rangers 3, New York Islanders 2--Sergei Zubov scored a third-period goal, then set up the winner by Peter Nedved.

Kevin Lowe had the other Ranger goal as the defending Stanley Cup champions won for only the second time in their last 19 games at Nassau Coliseum.

Buffalo 2, Ottawa 1--Pat LaFontaine scored one goal and set up another at Buffalo.

LaFontaine broke a 1-1 tie with his 10th goal of the season with the Sabres on a power play. He tipped a return pass from Donald Audette between the legs of Ottawa goalie Don Beaupre about 2 1/2 minutes into the third period.

New Jersey 3, Hartford 2--Scott Stevens scored with 1:03 remaining in the third period at East Rutherford, N.J.

Stevens’ shot from inside the blue line glanced off the skate of Hartford defenseman Chris Pronger and got past goaltender Sean Burke.

Quebec 4, Washington 2--Bob Bassen had a goal and an assist and the Nordiques extended their unbeaten streak to five games and improved their league-best home record (17-1-3).

Bassen’s goal, at 7:44 of the third period, gave Quebec a 3-1 lead. Washington’s Keith Jones beat goaltender Stephane Fiset with a power-play goal 2:31 later to make it 3-2, but Scott Young added an empty-net goal for Quebec.

Florida 4, Tampa Bay 1--Brian Skrudland had two goals and an assist at Miami to lead the Panthers, who had averaged less than a goal a game for four games.