NHL ROUNDUP : Panthers Rally to Win Seventh in a Row

The Florida Panthers are not only the NHL’s top team, they’re becoming the NHL’s top come-from-behind team.

Trailing after two periods might intimidate most teams, but the Panthers haven’t found it a problem lately. The Panthers scored four goals during a frantic third period Tuesday night to rally past Toronto, 5-2, at Miami.

Rob Niedermayer scored the game-winner with 14 minutes left as the Panthers extended their franchise-record winning streak to seven games.

Florida trailed, 2-1, after two periods, then scored three goals within 10 1/2 minutes to win the game. At 14-4-0, the Panthers have the best record in the league and have won five consecutive games at home.

Toronto lost for the first time in seven games. The Maple Leafs are 4-1-2 in that stretch.

Florida goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 25 of 27 shots, improving to 10-3. Vanbiesbrouck also helped deny Toronto’s three power-play chances in the third.

Pittsburgh 4, Dallas 2--Mario Lemieux had two goals and an assist to raise his league-leading point total to 40 and help the Penguins win at Pittsburgh.

The Stars are winless in six games, while the Penguins are on a 7-1-1 streak. Pittsburgh goaltender Tom Barrasso extended his personal unbeaten streak to 7-0-2.

Lemieux has scored points in all 12 of his games this season and has had multiple points in 11 games.

Calgary 4, Edmonton 2--The Flames became the last NHL team to earn a home victory this season as Claude Lapointe scored late in the third period to key the victory at Calgary.

Calgary, which has struggled this season on offense, got the job done with a three-goal third period.

New Jersey 1, Hartford 0--Randy McKay scored his second game-winning goal in as many games and Martin Brodeur had a relatively easy time in goal as the Devils won at East Rutherford, N.J.

The victory was the third in a row for the Devils. The Whalers have now lost three of their last four and are 2-8-1 over their last 11--1-2 since Paul Maurice replaced Paul Holmgren as coach on Nov. 6. Hartford has only 19 goals in its last 11 games.

The Devils got the only goal they needed at 16:38 of the second period on McKay’s goal. Brodeur was rarely tested, turning away 16 shots in his second shutout of the season.

Washington 2, Philadelphia 2--John LeClair scored the tying goal with 16.7 seconds left in regulation, lifting the Flyers to a tie at Landover, Md.

Washington rookie Stefan Ustorf had a first-period goal and set up Brendan Witt’s go-ahead score with 8:23 left, but the Capitals couldn’t hold the lead and extended their winless streak to four games.

Tampa Bay 5, Boston 3--Alexander Selivanov had two goals and an assist as the Lightning ended a four-game losing streak to win at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Selivanov has seven goals and 11 points in his last 10 games. The goals were his ninth and 10th of the season.

Tampa Bay, which was 1-6-3 in its previous 10 games, received a boost from the return of goaltender Daren Puppa from a wrist injury. Puppa, who stopped 32 of 35 shots to improve to 4-3-4, had missed the previous three games.

St. Louis 1, New York 1--Geoff Courtnall and Jeff Beukeboom traded goals in a closely contested game at St. Louis that ended the Rangers’ four-game winning streak.

The teams combined for only 43 shots in regulation, 24 by New York, although there were several missed opportunities on both sides.

Winnipeg 6, Chicago 5--Shane Doan scored his first NHL goal late in the third period and got the game winner as the Jets won in overtime at Winnipeg.

Doan’s goal came 39 seconds into the extra period as he skated around veteran defenseman Steve Smith and faked out Chicago goaltender Ed Belfour.

Teemu Selanne also had two goals for Winnipeg while Keith Tkachuk and Darren Turcotte rounded out the scoring. Jeremy Roenick had two goals for Chicago and Joe Murphy, Eric Daze and Bob Probert one each.

N.Y. Islanders 5, San Jose 3--Alexander Semak and Wendel Clark scored late in the third period to lead the Islanders to victory over the Sharks at San Jose.

San Jose’s Craig Janney had tied the game, 3-3, on a nice backhanded flip with 6:47 left. However, Semak scored on a wraparound shot 1:10 later to break the tie. Clark then got his second goal of the game with 2:43 left.

*

NHL Notes

Peter Bondra, the Washington Capitals’ leading scorer, separated his left shoulder and will sit out a week to 10 days. . . . Pittsburg Penguin defenseman Sergei Zubov will sit out two more weeks after re-injuring a broken finger. . . . Buffalo Sabre defenseman Garry Galley will be sidelined 10 days to two weeks because of a left shoulder injury.