Gretzky Shut Out in Home Debut, but Blues Still Win

The night belonged to Wayne Gretzky until teammate Brian Noonan stole the show for the St. Louis Blues.

Noonan’s goal and an assist in the third period rescued what was supposed to have been an electric evening in Gretzky’s home debut at St. Louis to give the Blues a 2-0 victory over the Florida Panthers Tuesday night.

Gretzky got a standing ovation when he first stepped on the ice, and fans topped that with even more thunderous applause when he was announced as the last Blues starter. Then everything fell flat before Noonan inspired the crowd with his 12th goal at 9:17 of the third.

OTHER GAMES

Petr Nedved scored four times for his first hat trick in 349 NHL games and Mario Lemieux had four assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 9-4, at Pittsburgh. . . . At St. Petersburg, Fla., defenseman Roman Hamrlik had his first two-goal game and Daren Puppa recorded his fourth shutout as the Tampa Bay Lightning scored a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. . . . At Uniondale, N.Y., Zigmund Palffy joined Lemieux as the only players this season with back-to-back hat tricks in leading the New York Islanders over the Boston Bruins, 5-3. . . . Wade Flaherty stopped 54 shots as the San Jose Sharks tallied four times in the first period and beat the Colorado Avalanche at Denver, 5-3.