NHL Roundup : Minnesota, Detroit and Toronto Scramble Into a Tie for Norris Lead

Kari Takko stopped 32 shots, and Brian MacLellan had a goal and two assists as the Minnesota North Stars beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-2, Wednesday night at Bloomington, Minn., and moved into a three-way tie for the Norris Division lead.

The North Stars, Detroit and Toronto each won, and with 35 points apiece moved past Chicago and St. Louis, which both lost and remain at 34 points.

None of the three teams has a .500 record.

The Whalers dropped into a first-place tie with Montreal atop the Adams Division.

Takko, in the 18th game of his NHL career, had a shutout until Dave Semenko scored from a scramble in front of the goal with 3:31 left.

Toronto 6, Winnipeg 1--Peter Ihnacak returned from the minors to score a goal and set up his younger brother, Miroslav, for another, and goaltender Ken Wregget made 42 saves as the Maple Leafs routed the Jets at Toronto.

Peter Ihnacak, 29, was playing his first NHL game since being demoted Nov. 30 to the Newmarket Saints of the American Hockey League. Miroslav, 24, was recalled Dec. 10 from Newmarket, where he had started the season.

The elder Ihnacak scored on a power play at 10:36 of the first period. Steve Thomas made it 2-0 with the first of his two goals at 19:18. Rick Vaive and Wendel Clark also scored for the Leafs.

Ron Wilson spoiled Wregget’s shutout with 1:23 left.

Detroit 6, Calgary 4--Gerard Gallant broke a tie at 4:10 of the third period and set up Randy Ladouceur’s power-play goal 2:06 later as the Red Wings defeated the Flames at Detroit.

Joel Otto drew the Flames within a goal at 9:29, but Tim Higgins scored into an empty net for Detroit with 32 seconds left.

Trailing, 3-0, the Red Wings scored three times during a 3:55 stretch early in the second period, outshooting the Flames, 14-3, in that span.

Dave Lewis got the equalizer at 7:42, when he scored his first goal in 93 games. Lewis last scored April 6, 1985, when he was a member of the New Jersey Devils.

Calgary’s Joe Mullen scored his 20th goal, his ninth in the last nine games.

N.Y. Rangers 4, N.Y. Islanders 3--Tomas Sandstrom completed the first hat trick of his three-year career on a power play at 4:37 of overtime to lift the Rangers to a victory over the Islanders at New York.

Sandstrom has scored four of his 13 goals and has four assists in his last four games.

Referee Mike Noeth called a slashing penalty on the Islanders’ Bryan Trottier at 4:07 of overtime, prompting Trottier to charge Noeth in protest. Trottier was forcibly escorted to the penalty box by linesman Kevin Collins.

After Sandstrom’s winning goal, Trottier bolted out of the penalty box, and hounded Noeth and Collins. Several other Islanders joined Trottier until Noeth left the ice after listening to the Islanders for about a minute and a half.

Montreal 4, Quebec 1--Ryan Walter and Claude Lemieux scored goals 11 seconds apart in the second period as the Canadiens beat the Nordiques to pull even with Hartford.

Buffalo 5, Chicago 2--Former King Doug Smith scored twice to lead the Sabres past the Blackhawks at Buffalo. Left winger Bob Logan, called up from Buffalo’s Rochester farm team earlier in the day, scored a goal in his NHL debut.