NHL Roundup : Good Skate Gives Penguins a Win

Mike Bullard’s skate scored the decisive goal early in the third period to lead the Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota North Stars Sunday night at Pittsburgh.

Bullard’s 25th goal, which came when Mike Blaisdell’s pass hit Bullard’s skate and caromed into the net, assured the Penguins of a significant victory. It gave them a 21-20-5 record, the first time since the 1981-82 season that they have been above .500 after the midway point of the season.

It also put the Penguins into a tie with the New York Islanders for third place in the tough Patrick Division. The Penguins, who stopped the North Stars’ unbeaten streak at four, extended their own to four (3-0-1).

The Penguins, finally making progress in Bob Berry’s second season as coach, have compiled 47 points. All last season the Penguins accumulated only 53 and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive time in a league that qualifies all but five teams for postseason play.

Craig Simpson’s first goal in 14 games gave the Penguins the lead in the first period, and Terry Ruskowski took a pass from Mario Lemieux to score early in the second period.

Roberto Romano stopped 24 Minnesota shots in the first two periods, but on the North Stars’ first shot of the final period, Brian Lawton scored after intercepting Ville Siren’s clearing pass.

It appeared that the North Stars, one of the hottest teams in the league for the last month, had the Penguins on the run. But the fluke goal by Bullard enabled the Penguins to hang on for the victory, only three short of last season’s total.

Boston 2, Winnipeg 1--Butch Goring, a native of Winnipeg, made a triumphant return as the coach of the Bruins.

Keith Crowder’s power play goal early in the third period broke a 1-1 tie and the tough Boston defense held the Jets at bay the rest of the way.

Buffalo 6, New Jersey 3--Paul Cyr had two goals and an assist at East Rutherford, N.J., and goaltender Tom Barrasso was sensational in goal for the Sabres. It was Buffalo’s second win in a row since Scotty Bowman resumed coaching.

Barrasso settled down after giving up two first period goals. He stopped 30 of the last 31 shots the Devils took. The only goal he gave up in the last two periods was on a power play in the second period.

Calgary 9, Toronto 5--Joel Otto scored two goals in a seven-goal first period at Toronto to get the Flames the lead on their way to their fourth win in five games. Prior to the four out of five, the Flames had lost 11 games in a row.

Tim Bernhardt allowed the Flames 4 goals on 10 shots in the first period and was replaced by Don Edwards.

Chicago 6, Detroit 4--Denis Savard scored twice at Chicago to reach the 200 plateau and help the Black Hawks hand the hapless Red Wings their seventh loss in a row.

It was a 4-4 tie until the middle of the second period when Behn Wilson scored on a 55-foot shot. The final goal, by Troy Murray, was into an empty net with 25 seconds left.