NHL ROUNDUP : Devils Pick Up Where They Left Off

In their first meeting since New Jersey swept Detroit in the Stanley Cup finals, the Devils beat the Red Wings, 4-2, Thursday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

Scott Niedermayer, Tommy Albelin, Brian Rolston and Jim Dowd scored to help the Stanley Cup champions improve to 5-1. Detroit, winless in its last three games, got first-period goals from Sergei Fedorov and Keith Primeau to take a 2-1 lead.

Just as they did in the playoffs, the Devils gradually took control of the tempo. Aided by great penalty killing, the Devils were able to take a 3-2 lead in the second period on goals 41 seconds apart by Albelin and Rolston.

Although the crowd was rocking throughout, the players on both sides refused to read too much into one early-season game.

“The important games were played last June,” Niedermayer said. “This game was important only for the points.”

San Jose 3, Winnipeg 3--The Sharks scored three goals in the third period to earn a tie with the Jets at Winnipeg. Ulf Dahlen, Andrei Nazarov and Pat Falloon scored for the Sharks in the final period of regulation, the last two goals coming in a 16-second span that tied the score with 7:21 to play.

Teemu Selanne had a goal and an assist for the Jets, and Keith Tkachuk added a goal and two assists. Igor Korolev also scored for the Jets, his seventh goal of the season.

It was the first game for the Jets since they were sold to a group based in Minnesota that plans to move the franchise after the season. A crowd of 9,001 was on hand in Winnipeg Arena, which has a seating capacity of 15,393.

Ottawa 4, Calgary 2--The Flames remained winless six games into the season. They have three ties and three losses, all on the road, in the franchise’s longest winless streak.

Ottawa received excellent goaltending from Don Beaupre, who stopped 32 shots, and came up with three power-play goals in eight opportunities.

Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman scored power-play goals in the third period to pad a 2-1 lead for Ottawa, which won its second straight after opening the season with two losses.

Tampa Bay 4, Chicago 1--Chris Gratton scored twice and Daren Puppa made 24 saves as the Lightning snapped a three-game losing streak with their first road victory of the season.

St. Louis 1, Dallas 1--Brett Hull and Mike Modano traded goals early in the second period and the Blues and Stars skated to a tie.

The overtime was the first of the season for either team.