NHL ROUNDUP : Hull Finds Breach in Sharks’ Defense

Brett Hull, recently troubled by flu, came back to score two goals Saturday night and lead the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks in St. Louis.

The Blues led, 3-2, after two periods on Hull’s goals and one by Shayne Corson. Hull, who also had an assist, missed action in the last 1 1/2 games because of his illness.

Hull scored his 19th at 17:25 of the first. He took the puck in the neutral zone, skated in untouched and flipped the puck over a sprawling Chris Terreri.

Hull gave the Blues a two-goal lead at 4:42 on a two-on-one power-play rush with Peter Zezel.

Florida 7, Tampa Bay 2--Rob Niedermayer, Jody Hull and Jesse Belanger scored power-play goals in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Reserve goalie Mark Fitzpatrick stopped 25 shots to improve to 9-1-1. Belanger added a second goal, and Niedermayer, Johan Garpenlov and Gord Murphy each had two assists.

Philadelphia 4, Montreal 2--Rod Brind’Amour scored two goals to lift the Flyers in Montreal.

Brind’Amour scored in the first and third periods for the Flyers, who are 10-2-0 in their last 12 games and 20-8-4 overall.

Washington 3, New York Rangers 2--The Rangers lost their second game in two nights as Jim Carey made 29 saves in Landover, Md.

Washington, which has a three-game winning streak, used a 14-save first period from Carey to stay in the game as New York pressured early.

Buffalo 3, New Jersey 2--Dixon Ward scored the game-winner at 12:23 of the third period in East Rutherford, N.J.

Ward took a shot from the top of the left circle that deflected off the stick of Devil defenseman Scott Niedermayer past goaltender Martin Brodeur.

Boston 6, Calgary 3--Dave Reid scored three goals and Jozef Stumpel added a goal and two assists in Boston. Goaltender Craig Billington had 26 saves for Boston, including 13 during the third period.

New York Islanders 3, Hartford 3--The Islanders’ Wendel Clark scored with 16.9 seconds left in regulation in Uniondale, N.Y.

Unable to make a satisfactory deal for banished center Kirk Muller, Islander General Manager-Coach Mike Milbury said he will order Muller to rejoin the team.