Penguins Shed a Heavy Burden

The Philadelphia Flyers hadn’t lost two consecutive games since late November. The Pittsburgh Penguins were beginning to feel as though they had gone just as long without a victory.

The Penguins don’t have to feel that way anymore.

Fredrik Olausson scored 19 seconds into overtime at Pittsburgh to help the Penguins end a six-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Flyers on Saturday.

It was the Penguins’ first victory in 10 overtime games, ending a 0-4-5 streak.

Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux got an assist to become the first player to reach 100 points this season.

Detroit 5, Vancouver 3--Brendan Shanahan scored his 42nd goal to trigger a three-goal second period and the Red Wings repelled a third-period comeback attempt by the Canucks at Vancouver.

After the game the Canucks announced they traded disgruntled forwards Esa Tikkanen and Russ Courtnall to the New York Rangers in exchange for forwards Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Noonan.

Phoenix 2, Chicago 0--Nikolai Khabibulin made 35 saves at Chicago for his third straight shutout.

In blanking Florida, Tampa Bay and Chicago in a 75-hour span, Khabibulin set franchise records for consecutive shutouts, longest stretch without allowing a goal (198 minutes 19 seconds) and shutouts in a season (six).

New York Islanders 5, New Jersey 1--The Islanders took charge early at Uniondale, N.Y., scoring three goals on seven shots in the first period against goalie Mike Dunham.

Boston 6, Tampa Bay 4--The Bruins rallied from a three-goal deficit at Tampa to give the last-place team a four-game sweep of the season series against the Lightning and extend its overall winning streak against Tampa Bay to six games.

Buffalo 3, Montreal 3--Valeri Bure scored a power-play goal with 2:18 left in the third period at Montreal to help the Canadiens to battle back from a two-goal deficit.

Sabre goaltender Dominik Hasek made 40 saves, including one on a third-period penalty shot by Vincent Damphousse.

Hartford 1, Toronto 1--Robert Kron scored at 14:52 of the third period at Toronto to salvage the tie after Wendel Clark’s 25th goal had given the Maple Leafs the lead.

Detroit 5, Vancouver 3--Brendan Shanahan scored his 42nd goal to trigger a three-goal second period and the Red Wings repelled a third-period comeback attempt by the Canucks at Vancouver.

NHL Note

The Vancouver Canucks traded disgruntled forwards Esa Tikkanen and Russ Courtnall to the New York Rangers in exchange for forwards Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Noonan.