Hat Trick

PITTSBURGH -- Come to think of it, there are a couple of things the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't lose when Mario Lemieux's hand was broken by the slash heard around the NHL.Their heart and their resilience.In a remarkable come-from-behind effort, the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins knocked off the New York Rangers, 5-4, on a power-play goal by Ron Francis 2:47 into overtime last night.The win evened the best-of-seven Patrick Division finals at 2-2 with Game 5 to be played at Madison Square Garden tonight.

This was the greatest moment of Mark Mettrick's four seasons with the Baltimore Blast, and all he could do was lower his head, smile a little and walk to the bench.Maybe Mettrick needs a little practice on how to react to the lead role.That was the pleasant predicament Mettrick faced last night after he scored three goals for the first time in his Major Soccer League career, leading the Blast to a 9-4 victory over the Dallas Sidekicks at the Baltimore Arena before 10,090.Mettrick was mobbed by his happy teammates 7 minutes, 43 seconds into the fourth quarter when he completed the hat trick with a flip shot from the left side of the penalty box for an 8-3 lead.

PHILADELPHIA -- Igor Nikulin, who had turned in his second hat trick in a month earlier, made a brilliant foray through most of the Phantom team and put a shot on goal that rookie Matt Cullen rebounded into the net, giving the Bandits a 6-5 overtime win over Philadelphia before 17,380 at the CoreStates Spectrum last night.The game started with five goals in the first 10 minutes, but turned into a wrestling match until the Bandits' big push to the winning goal. It was Baltimore's first overtime victory of the season, in their 78th game.

LANDOVER -- The Ottawa Senators didn't know what they were flying in to. Sure they knew about the near-30 inches of snow engulfing the area. Sure they knew about the reports that another snow storm was on its way.But they didn't count on being snowed under by newly named All-Star Peter Bondra and his Washington Capitals line mates Michal Pivonka and Keith Jones.Bondra came like an avalanche, producing a hat trick and two assists. Pivonka and Jones could have been flagged for piling on. Pivonka produced a career-high six points with two goals and four assists and Jones also produced a career high with a goal and three assists.

LANDOVER -- Dino Ciccarelli was back, and all was right with the world at the Capital Centre last night.Mike Ridley scored two short-handed goals on the way to a hat trick, as the Washington Capitals rediscovered their winning touch at home with a 5-2 victory over New Jersey, moving into a third-place tie with the Devils in the Patrick Division.Ciccarelli, who missed 21 games with a broken right thumb, tied the game at 1 with 6 minutes, 8 seconds gone in the second period. He made a nifty move, deflecting a slap shot by defenseman Mikhail Tatarinov into the net, bringing the crowd of to its feet.

The Washington Capitals found out last night why Alexander Mogilny is sometimes called "the red-hot Russian."Mogilny, a junior hockey star in the former Soviet Union who defected in 1989, scored a hat trick in the second period as the Capitals dropped a 4-1 decision to the Buffalo Sabres.The Capitals looked listless at times in this one, especially when they let Mogilny take over in the second period. One of his goals deflected off a Washington player's stick and another came off a skate to an unchecked Mogilny.

Richard Chinapoo can vanish into the night or day quicker than any other player on the Baltimore Blast.That's why they call him "Coolbreeze."But there was no way Chinapoo could disappear last night after scoring three goals to lead the Blast to a 6-5 victory over the Cleveland Crunch before 7,244 at the Baltimore Arena.Chinapoo was in the spotlight, like it or not."It was just my night," said Chinapoo trying to follow that cool breeze out of sight. "My shots were falling, and maybe they were concentrating too much on Moby [Domenic Mobilio]

LANDOVER -- Washington Capitals left wing Randy Burridge was reading The Hockey News at Piney Orchard yesterday morning, and dropping hints all over the place about the state of his game."

LANDOVER -- The Washington Capitals had hoped to get off fast and set a tone as the second half of the NHL season began. Last night's game with the Florida Panthers might have set a tone, but the 5-4 loss was not what the Capitals had in mind.The Caps overcame four Florida power-play goals to tie the game with 7:31 to go, but could not stop Florida left wing John Garpenlov, who scored at even strength with 55.4 seconds to play.Washington should have double-teamed the guy, no doubt about that.