Gustafsson Helps Keep the Panthers Unbeaten

The Florida Panthers remain undefeated, but the New York Rangers didn’t make it easy for them Friday.

Florida Rookie Per Gustafsson continued to shine with a goal and two assists as the Panthers beat the Rangers, 6-4, at Miami.

New York’s Mark Messier scored two goals, one short-handed, and Wayne Gretzky extended his point streak to 10 games with a goal and an assist. The Rangers nearly erased a four-goal deficit in the third period but fell prey to penalties.

The Panthers scored a team-record five power-play goals. “The Rangers are a high-powered team and we beat them at their own game tonight,” Panther goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck said after Florida improved its record to 6-0-3. “We like the look of the loss column.”

Florida led, 5-1, with 10 minutes left on goals by Jody Hull, Gustafsson, Rob Niedermayer, Stu Barnes and Dave Lowry. But Gretzky scored on the power play, followed by two goals by Messier as the Rangers cut the Panthers’ lead to 5-4.

But Ranger defenseman Eric Cairns was called for cross-checking and Robert Svhela put the game away at 16:08 when he scored on the power play.

Chicago 2, Detroit 2--Backup goaltenders Jimmy Waite of the Blackhawks and Kevin Hodson of the Red Wings sparkled at Detroit in their first starts of the season.

Hodson, who shut out the Blackhawks in his first NHL start last season, made 26 saves. Waite, recalled from Indianapolis earlier Friday, stopped 39 shots.

Gary Suter and Eric Daze scored power-play goals 50 seconds apart in the first period for Chicago. Kozlov and Brendan Shanahan scored second-period goals for the Red Wings.