Flames Continue to Sizzle Behind Roberts

When the Pittsburgh Penguins buried the Calgary Flames, 7-1, at the end of December, the Flames’ season seemed to be dead. The club had won only seven of its first 33 games.

And the season of Gary Roberts, sidelined because of neck surgery, didn’t seem much more promising.

Wrong on both counts.

The Flames beat the Penguins, 7-3, Thursday night at Calgary to increase their record since that earlier loss to Pittsburgh to 17-9-4. And leading the charge is Roberts.

Roberts had a hat trick Thursday, his third since returning from the surgery on Jan. 10. The three goals give him an impressive 16 in 21 games.

Theoren Fleury added four assists in the victory over the Penguins.

Detroit 5, New York Islanders 1--Nicklas Lidstrom and Dino Ciccarelli each had a goal and an assist in a four-goal second-period flurry at Detroit that enabled the Red Wings to extend their home winning streak to 12 games. Overall, Detroit is 27-2-2 at Joe Louis Arena.

The Red Wings have won five in a row and nine of their last 11.

For the shell-shocked Islanders, it was their second loss to Detroit in three nights. The Red Wings outscored the Islanders, 11-3, in the two games.

Goalie Chris Osgood stopped 23 shots for his league-leading 31st victory of the season.

Chicago 4, Colorado 3--Murray Craven scored with seven minutes remaining at Chicago to end a five-game winning streak by the Avalanche and a three-game losing streak by the Blackhawks. All three of Chicago’s losses had been by one goal, two of those in overtime.

Florida 2, Washington 2--Dale Hunter’s goal with 13 seconds left in the third period at Miami got the Capitals the tie.

Rob Niedermayer scored both goals for the Panthers, his 22nd and 23rd.

Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig stopped a penalty shot by Mike Hough, the first such shot in Florida’s three-year history.

NHL Notes

The New York Rangers traded Wayne Presley and Nick Kypreos to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Sergio Momesso and Bill Berg.