The beat goes on for Brett Hull . . . and the beatings go on for the Quebec Nordiques.
Picking up where he left off before the All-Star break, Hull scored his NHL-leading 48th goal as the St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-4 Tuesday night.With 48 goals in 47 games, Hull is on a pace to score 50 goals in 50 games for the second straight year. Last season, he scored 50 in his first 49 games on the way to an 86-goal season.
Meanwhile, the hapless Nordiques suffered their seventh straight loss, dropping a 5-3 decision at home to Vancouver.
"The Canucks came back early from the break and had two practices," Quebec coach Pierre Page said. "Our players could have done the same thing, but they rejected the idea."
Hull, who had two goals in the All-Star game on Saturday and was the MVP, scored his 48th on a power play at 13:18 of the second period. Hull took a cross-ice pass from Brendan Shanahan and put a wrist shot into the left corner of the net.
Hull is one of four players in NHL history to accomplish the feat of 50 goals in 50 games. Only Wayne Gretzky has done it more than once, with three 50-50 seasons.
Hull also increased his team-record scoring streak to 24 games and tied Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh for the league scoring lead with 75 points. Hull has 30 goals and 15 assists during the streak.
"Obviously, I'm thinking about it now," Hull said of the 50-50 mark. "I just want to do it."
Hull had four shots on goal, but complained that he was feeling under the weather and didn't have a good game.
"I hope he gets it, but I'm glad he didn't get it against us," said the Sabres' Pat LaFontaine.
Canucks 5, Nordiques 3
Igor Larionov scored his 17th goal and added three assists, two of them on goals by Pavel Bure, as the Canucks beat Quebec.
Besides his two goals, Bure also had an assist and Greg Adams, the other member of the line, contributed three assists, giving the trio a 10-point night.
Red Wings 7, Flyers 3
Sergei Fedorov had a goal and three assists, all in the second period, as the Red Wings routed the Flyers.
Detroit trailed 2-1 after one period, but scored five goals on Ron Hextall in the second period. The only other time Hextall had given up five goals in a period was on Dec. 21, 1986, in St. Louis.
Jets 3, Whalers 3
Bobby Holik scored twice, once with help from Winnipeg defenseman Mario Marois, as the Whalers came from two goals down to tie the Jets.
It was only the third time this season the Whalers have come back from two goals down (1-16-2). Hartford ended a four-game losing streak, losing each by a goal, and avoided going eight games under .500 for the first time since 1984-85.
Oilers 9, Sharks 2
Bernie Nicholls had two goals and three assists and the Oilers scored six times in the third period to rout the Sharks.
Nicholls, who has asked to be traded back to a team in the East, helped the Oilers break open a 3-2 game with their biggest outburst of the season.