NHL ROUNDUP : Penguins Lose Again, This Time to Senators, 2-1

The Pittsburgh Penguins are waiting for Mario Lemieux to come back, and it can’t be soon enough.

Pittsburgh, the defending Stanley Cup champion, continued to struggle as the expansion Ottawa Senators defeated the Penguins, 2-1, Thursday night at Ottawa.

The Senators scored twice in the third period and goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz stopped 38 shots to hand the Penguins their fifth loss in their last six games. Since Lemieux has been sidelined by Hodgkin’s disease, Pittsburgh has a 10-9-1 record.

It was the Senators’ eighth victory of the season and ended a six-game losing streak.

Boston 3, Minnesota 3--Dave Gagner scored with 5:52 left in the third period to give the North Stars a tie at Boston.

Boston wing Cam Neely scored a goal to celebrate his return from a one-year absence as the Bruins took a 3-1 lead, but the North Stars rallied for the tie.

Gagner scored on his own rebound as the North Stars swarmed the net late in the third period. Jim Johnson and Mark Tinordi also scored for Minnesota.

Philadelphia 6, New Jersey 2--Mark Recchi scored twice in a four-goal second period and Pelle Eklund had three assists, including the 300th of his career, to lead the Flyers at Philadelphia.

Kevin Dineen added two goals and Ric Nattress scored one for Philadelphia, which won its second consecutive game.

Quebec 6, New York Islanders 4--Mats Sundin scored the Nordiques’ third power-play goal of the game late in the third period in their victory over the Islanders at Quebec.

Quebec had failed on four consecutive power plays earlier in the game, but Andrei Kovalenko, Mike Ricci and Sundin scored with the man advantage as the Nordiques extended their unbeaten streak to seven games.

Chicago 5, Tampa Bay 1--Ed Belfour made 38 saves, including a penalty shot, and Jeremy Roenick scored his 34th goal to lead the Blackhawks at Tampa.

The Blackhawks’ third consecutive victory moved them three points ahead of idle Detroit in the Norris Division. Tampa Bay lost its fifth consecutive game.

Toronto 5, San Jose 0--After a scoreless first period, the Maple Leafs scored three second-period goals in their shutout victory over the Sharks at San Jose.

Wendel Clark, Dave Ellett and John Cullen scored during the second period, and Todd Gill and Dave Andreychuk added goals in the third.