Rolston Follows a Hunch and It Pays Off for Devils

A little anticipation went a long way in the New Jersey Devils’ latest victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

“I knew the puck was going to get out of the zone,” said Brian Rolston, who scored a short-handed goal as the Devils won, 3-2, Thursday night at Philadelphia to end the Flyers’ season-opening unbeaten streak at five games.

Rolston, who also had an assist, broke a 1-1 tie with 1:19 left in the second period. He beat defenseman Dave Babych to a loose puck and flipped a shot over goalie John Vanbiesbrouck’s shoulder.

“I just took off and it was a foot race to the goal,” Rolston said. “Then I just concentrated on putting it in the net. It was a big goal for our team and for myself as well.”

Brendan Morrison and Randy McKay also scored for the Devils, 5-0-1 in their last six games against Philadelphia.

Eric Desjardins and Eric Lindros scored for the Flyers, who entered the game 4-0-1.

Lindros, tied with Detroit’s Brendan Shanahan for the league lead with six goals, shot the puck past goalie Martin Brodeur at 13:06 of the third period.

N.Y. Rangers 3, N.Y. Islanders 2--After Kevin Stevens scored with 5:08 left, the Rangers survived a penalty shot to beat the Islanders at Madison Square Garden.

After Stevens’ goal broke a 2-2 tie, the Islanders were awarded a penalty shot 26 seconds later when Mathieu Schneider pulled down Claude Lapointe from behind on a breakaway.

Goalie Mike Richter stopped Lapointe’s attempt when he made a pad save on a backhand shot from just outside the crease.

The Rangers went on to their second victory in a row after an 0-4-1 start--worst in their history since the 1958-59 team went six games without a victory at the start of the season.

San Jose 2, Chicago 2--Eric Daze tipped in a power-play goal in the third period and the Blackhawks, who had an apparent game-winning goal overruled in overtime, tied the Sharks at Chicago.

The Blackhawks thought they won the game in sudden death, but Chad Kilger’s apparent rebound goal with 23.3 seconds remaining was negated because he apparently kicked the puck past Steve Shields.

Chicago was celebrating on the ice but referee Dave Jackson checked with replay official Randy Krawiec, who ruled the puck was kicked in. Fans then littered the ice with debris in protest and held up the final seconds for several minutes.

A bench minor on the Sharks for throwing a stick on the ice to Owen Nolan gave Chicago a two-man advantage at 3:14 of the third period.

Forty seconds later, Daze barely grazed Chris Chelios’ slap shot from high in the slot and it sailed past Shields.

Dallas 2, Phoenix 1--Joe Nieuwendyk, six months and two knee operations removed from his last game, scored the winning goal with 15:08 left and also had an assist at Dallas.

Nieuwendyk, sidelined since injuring his right knee in the first game of the playoffs last season, knocked a loose puck past Phoenix goalie Nikolai Khabibulin on a power play.

Defenseman Sergei Zubov also had a goal and an assist as the Stars scored twice on the power play, giving them 11 power play goals this season.

The Stars had an apparent goal by Mike Keane overturned with 11:56 left in the second period when Keane was ruled to be in the crease when the puck entered the net.

St. Louis 5, Ottawa 3--Former Senator forward Michel Picard scored two goals to help the Blues win at Kanata, Canada.

Pierre Turgeon, Kelly Chase and Mike Eastwood also scored to help St. Louis end a two-game losing streak. Pavol Demitra, also a former Senator, assisted on Picard’s goals.

The Blues entered the game 22nd in the league in penalty killing, but held the Senators to one power-play goal in 10 chances.