Penguins Blast Flames, 5-1

Kevin Hatcher scored a short-handed goal to start a four-goal third period Tuesday night that carried the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at Pittsburgh and extended the Flames’ losing streak to eight games.

Until the last half of the third period, the Penguins, who have won a season-high four consecutive games, had their hands full against a team that hasn’t won since Dec. 18 and was down to its fifth goaltender.

The Flames were forced to start 19-year-old Tyrone Garner, who is on emergency recall from his junior team at Oshawa. Flame goalies Ken Wregget, Tyler Moss, Jean-Sebastian Giguere and Andrei Trefilov are injured. Garner had appeared in two NHL games for a total of 79 minutes before making his first start.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, but it’s part of the game and you just try to get by the best you can,” Flame General Manager Al Coates said. “You go on because you know that nobody is going to have any sympathy for you.”

Phoenix 2, Florida 2--Oleg Kvasha scored on the Panthers’ first shot of the game and Johan Garpenlov scored on their first shot of the third period at Phoenix.

Greg Adams and Jeremy Roenick had a goal and an assist each for Phoenix, which is 4-5-2 since opening the season with only three losses in its first 23 games.

San Jose 3, New Jersey 3--Jeff Friesen is the first Shark to score 100 goals after connecting on a third-period power play to lift his team to a tie at East Rutherford, N.J.

Owen Nolan and Joe Murphy also scored for San Jose, and Mike Vernon made two big saves in overtime for the Sharks, who are 5-2-2 in their last nine games.

Bobby Holik scored twice and linemate Randy McKay returned to the lineup and added the other for New Jersey. The tie was a costly one for the Devils, who lost left wing Dave Andreychuk in the first period when he suffered a broken right ankle.

Chicago 1, N.Y. Islanders 1--Jocelyn Thibault turned aside 40 shots for the Blackhawks at Uniondale, N.Y.

Thibault gave up only an early goal by Robert Reichel as the Blackhawks continued their mastery at Nassau Coliseum. Since the 1985-86 season, they are 9-1-6 against the Islanders at Uniondale.