Parrish Ends Drought by Scoring Four Goals

Mark Parrish, a 21-year-old rookie, scored four goals Friday night to help the Florida Panthers end a five-game winless streak with a 7-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago.

Parrish, the first player in the Panthers’ six-year history to score four goals in a game, broke a six-game scoreless drought. It was the first time he found the net since scoring twice in the Panthers’ 4-1 opening-night victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I was kind of getting a little anxious to get out of it,” Parrish said of his scoring drought. “It wasn’t so much from the fans or the media, but from your own players. You don’t want them to think it was a fluke.”

The Panthers, who had scored a league-low 12 goals in seven previous games, also got two goals from Rob Niedermayer.

N.Y. Rangers 1, Carolina 0--Mike Richter stopped 30 shots for his second consecutive shutout and Todd Harvey scored the only goal at New York.

The Hurricanes appeared to tie the score with seven seconds remaining, but the goal was disallowed because Ron Francis had his skate in the goal crease.

“I knew they were outnumbering us and they were coming at me,” said Richter, who was surrounded by Hurricane forwards Gary Roberts, Ron Francis and Sami Kapanen. “I saw [Francis’] skate was in the crease. I was hoping the goal would be disallowed but you can’t bank on it.”

As Francis jostled with Richter, Roberts shot the puck at the net and Kapanen redirected it in at 19:53. After two minutes of pandemonium, it was ruled that Francis had his skate in the crease and the goal was disallowed.

The frantic ending preserved a streak in which Richter has been flawless for 135:57, including a scoreless tie against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. He is the first Ranger goaltender to register back-to-back shutouts since Ed Giacomin did it in 1973.

Washington 0, Calgary 0--Rick Tabaracci made 20 saves in his return to Calgary to help the Capitals earn a tie with Ken Wregget and the Flames.

Wregget was busier, facing 27 shots, but neither goalie needed to be spectacular in recording their first shutouts of the season.

Vancouver 2, Pittsburgh 2--Alexander Mogilny’s breakaway goal 17 seconds into the third period completed the Canucks’ comeback from a 2-0 deficit at Vancouver.

Buffalo 4, Toronto 1--Michael Grosek, Matthew Barnaby and Derek Plante each scored first-period goals for the Sabres at Buffalo.