Osgood Tries but Can’t Save Red Wings From Themselves

Chris Osgood could only save the Detroit Red Wings for so long from their seven penalties--and the firepower of the New Jersey Devils.

Scott Niedermayer set up late third-period goals by Jason Arnott and Dave Andreychuk and the Devils used the power play to keep the Red Wings off stride all game in posting a 3-1 victory Tuesday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

Rookie defenseman Sheldon Souray also scored as New Jersey outshot the Red Wings, 36-17, in a game that was scoreless until the third period.

“We just can’t get seven penalties,” Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman said. “It’s too many. It’s 14 minutes in the game, where you use a lot of the same guys. Our penalty killing has been good, but it was just too many.”

Osgood turned in an outstanding performance in stopping 25 shots in the first two periods.

“We wanted to get as many shots on net as possible,” Arnott said after scoring his first-game winning goal since being acquired from Edmonton at the beginning of the year. “He was making tremendous saves and we just wanted to shoot and shoot and shoot, and eventually one went in.”

Pittsburgh 0, Ottawa 0--The Penguins’ Tom Barrasso stopped 35 shots and the Senators’ Damian Rhodes made 23 saves at Pittsburgh for the NHL’s fifth 0-0 tie this season.

It was the first time since 1982 that the Penguins were involved in a scoreless tie. The Senators, who have been held scoreless in four of their last nine games, played a 0-0 game against Boston on Jan. 1.

Ottawa failed to connect on six power-play opportunities. The Senators have gone 10 games without a power-play goal, covering 34 opportunities.

The Penguins’ 10-game winning streak against Ottawa ended, but Pittsburgh remains undefeated against the Senators on home ice at 12-0-2.

Barrasso’s sixth shutout of the season tied the club record set by Les Binkley in 1967-68, the Penguins’ first season.

Philadelphia 3, Buffalo 0--Rod Brind’Amour celebrated the birth of his first child with two goals and Ron Hextall got his fourth shutout of the season in the game at Philadelphia.

Brind’Amour, whose wife, Kelle, gave birth to a daughter Sunday, has six goals in his last six games. Hextall made 29 saves for the Flyers, who have lost only one of their last eight (5-1-2).

Brind’Amour beat Sabre goalie Dominik Hasek twice in a four-minute span to give Philadelphia a 2-0 lead after the first period.

N.Y. Rangers 3, St. Louis 1--A very well-rested Mike Richter dazzled, a rejuvenated Brian Leetch scored and the Rangers made the most of the man advantage at New York.

The underachieving Rangers, 6-4 in their last 10 games, still looked shaky and defensively weak in the first two periods, giving up 28 shots to the Blues while getting only 17 themselves.

But they made the most of their limited chances, scoring all of their goals on power plays. Meanwhile, Richter virtually shut down the Blues in his first start since Jan. 3.

And the Rangers got three key players back from injuries--defensemen Jeff Beukeboom and Ulf Samuelsson and center Brian Skrudland.

Chicago 5, N.Y. Islanders 2--Steve Dubinsky scored a short-handed goal and set up one by Gary Suter as the Blackhawks defeated the mistake-prone Islanders at Chicago.

The Islanders have allowed an NHL-high 10 short-handed goals, one of many reasons that Coach Rick Bowness’ job is in jeopardy. New York is 1-11-1 in the last month and 0-7-1 at Chicago since 1991.

Tony Amonte, Eric Daze and Dmitri Nabokov added goals for the Blackhawks, who have won four of their last five games and are 9-3-3 since Dec. 17.

Edmonton 6, Phoenix 2--Defenseman Boris Mironov had a goal and three assists at Edmonton as the Oilers won their sixth game in a row.

Dean McAmmond, Roman Hamrlik, Doug Weight, Todd Marchant and Boyd Devereaux, with his first NHL goal, also scored for Edmonton.

Keith Tkachuk had both goals for the Coyotes, whose unbeaten streak ended at three.

Tkachuk put Phoenix ahead, 1-0, midway through the first with his 30th goal, but the Oilers scored twice later in the period to take the lead for good.