NHL ROUNDUP : Islanders Victimized by Devils’ Fast Start, 7-2

The New York Islanders, unbeaten in five games, were meeting the New Jersey Devils, who had only one victory in 42 games at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.

So, what happens? The Islanders on Tuesday night gave up more goals than they did in their five previous games and were defeated by the Devils, 7-2.

In their previous five games, the Islanders, behind the brilliant goaltending of Mark Fitzpatrick, had yielded only six goals in bouncing back from the worst start in club history.

The Devils were winless in December, having lost five in a row.

But Fitzpatrick, after back-to-back shutouts, couldn’t stop anything. He lasted less than 10 minutes after the Devils scored on three of their first seven shots.

John MacLean started Fitzpatrick’s downfall with his 16th goal at 1:49. Minutes later he set up Kirk Muller for the second goal. At 9:26 MacLean scored again and that was all for Fitzpatrick.

“What can you say?” Islander Coach Al Arbour said. “We started off bad, it got progressively worse . . . We had no checking--just skated around.”

The Devils also replaced their goalie, Chris Terreri, but for a different reason. Terreri was accidentally hit in the chin by New York’s Randy Wood in the closing seconds of the second period. Sean Burke played the last period.

Pittsburgh 7, Boston 5--Ron Brown riddled the usually strong defense of the Bruins for three goals at Pittsburgh to lead the Penguins.

The Bruins are winless in their last four games and the Penguins are 3-1-0 since Craig Patrick succeeded Gene Ubriaco as coach.

Mario Lemieux scored his 20th goal to extend his scoring streak to 19 games.

Vancouver 4, Minnesota 2--Barry Pederson had a goal and two assists at Bloomington, Minn., and the Canucks handed the North Stars their seventh consecutive defeat.