Pens Douse Flames 4-1

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 12, 1998 / 1:07 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

After a violent home-and-home series with the Philadelphia Flyers over the weekend, the Pittsburgh Penguins needed a less intense game on Wednesday night.

The Calgary Flames wouldn't cooperate.

Jaromir Jagr scored his 30th goal and set up Stu Barnes' 27th as the Penguins beat the Flames 4-1 in another physical game.

"Brian Sutter's teams over the years have been very hard-working and very physical," Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine said. "They always show up to play. Tonight was an example of that. And our guys matched it."

The Penguins had to overcome a 30-minute delay while a ceremony honored former player Joe Mullen, the first American to score 500 NHL goals. Pittsburgh endured and avoided losing consecutive games for the first time since mid-November.

"We've talked about that a lot," Jagr said. ``That's been our goal, don't lose two in a row. It was tough tonight to sit there like we did, but we still played hard."

Jagr had three points, giving him three goals and six assists in the last three games. The Penguins, who lost in overtime at Philadelphia on Sunday, avoided consecutive losses for the first time since mid-November. They have gone 44 games without consecutive losses, extending a team record.

The Flames, who ent 0-for-8 on the power play, have lost their last three games since a season-best 5-0-1 streak. They are 0-7-2 in Pittsburgh since winning on Feb. 12, 1989.

"We just didn't score," Sutter said. ``We played our rears off, but we didn't score."

Alexei Morozov broke a 1-1 tie at 13:21 of the second period with a fluke goal. His pass deflected off Calgary defenseman Tommy Albelin's stick and off the crossbar. The puck then dropped, hit goalie Dwayne Roloson's skate and bounced into the net.

Jagr set up Barnes' 14th power-play goal at 17:40 of the second to make it 3-1. Barnes camped at the side of the net and tapped in Jagr's pass. That goal came after the Flames' German Titov had an apparent score disallowed because replays showed Theo Fleury was in the crease. In the last five games, three of Pittsburgh opponents have had goals disallowed on replay rulings.

Jagr also assisted on Rob Brown's 10th goal at 2:15 of the third.

Jagr scored at 11:33 of the first, beating Roloson on a breakaway. Calgary's Andrew Cassels had scored on a breakaway 1:03 earlier.

The teams were involved in a minor skirmish during warmups. Pittsburgh defenseman Jiri Slegr and Flames forward Sandy McCarthy exchanged shoves before other players broke them up. McCarthy took offense to Slegr's shooting a puck into Calgary's net while some of the Flames were still on the ice.

"I do that all the time," Slegr said. ``I try to help the old man who cleans up th pucks. McCarthy said don't do that and I told him it's our building. It was nothing serious, just a scramble."

Said McCarthy, "I didn't want to get suspended and I'm sure he doesn't either. That's why it didn't go any further."

Rookie goalie Peter Skudra stopped 31 of 32 shots in his first NHL game since Jan. 10. Skudra was recalled from Kansas City of the International League last weekend when Tom Barrasso went out with an elbow injury. Skudra is 6-3-1 this season.