NHL Roundup : Blues, Canadiens Wrap Up Titles

St. Louis and Montreal clinched division titles Saturday on the next-to-last day of the regular season.

The Blues won the Norris Division by coming from behind to beat Minnesota, 4-3. The Canadiens more or less backed into the Adams title by battling Boston to a 4-4 tie while Quebec was losing.

The North Stars, who finished fourth in the Norris Division and will play the Blues in the first round of Stanley Cup competition, jumped off to a 3-0 lead in the first period at Bloomington, Minn.

But the Blues, 6-1-1 against the North Stars this season, got a goal back in the second period and exploded for three in the third to win it.

After Dave Barr cut the lead to 3-2 at 8:10, the Blues tied it on a fluke goal four minutes later by Craig Levie, a former North Star. Levie fired a high shot from the point. It struck Minnesota defenseman Dan Mandich in the back and caromed into the net.

With just 3:48 left in regulation, Barr scored his 16th goal to make it 4-3. The win gave the Blues their first division title since 1981.

Montreal 4, Boston 4--The Canadiens fought back from a two-goal deficit to gain the one point they needed to win their first division title since 1981-82. The Bruins held a 4-2 lead at Montreal, but Mike McPhee and Alfie Turcotte scored goals three minutes apart in the second period to get Montreal even.

Turcotte’s goal came with 3:16 left in the period. At this point rookie goalie Clint Daskalakis of Boston and Steve Penney of the Canadiens took charge.

In the last 28 minutes, including overtime, Daskalakis stopped 12 shots and Penney stopped 11. Daskalakis made a clutch save on a shot by McPhee from a sharp angle with one minute left in overtime.

Winnipeg 6, Edmonton 5--Although Wayne Gretzky finished the regular season in blazing fashion, the Oilers did not. In this game at Edmonton, the Oilers continued their late-season slump and enabled the Jets to clinch second place in the Smythe Division.

Tim Watters and Dale Hawerchuk each had a goal and two assists to lead the Jets to their third win in a row over the Oilers.

Gretzky, who scored at least one point in each of the last 28 games, had two assists to finish the season with 73 goals, 135 assists and 208 points. He led the league in all three categories. He has been the scoring champion for six consecutive seasons.

Jari Kurri, who lost a chance to win the goal-scoring title when he broke a finger two weeks ago, returned and scored his 71st goal in the first period.

The defending champion Oilers have not resembled champions in the last six weeks. After posting a 6-8-4 record in the last 18 games, they finished behind Philadelphia in the overall standings. On Feb. 23, the Oilers led the Flyers by 16 points.

Detroit 2, Chicago 2--The Black Hawks came within 11 seconds of keeping alive their hopes for a title in the Norris Division. But, in this game at Detroit, the Red Wings removed goalie Corrado Micalef for an extra attacker and it paid off when Ron Duguay scored his 38th goal with just 11 seconds left in regulation.

The tie ended the Black Hawks’ hopes of winning the division. The Black Hawks will play Detroit in the opening round of the playoffs.

New York Islanders 5, New Jersey 5--John Tonelli tipped in a shot by Mike Bossy with just 28 seconds left at Uniondale, N.Y. to give the Islanders the tie.

It also gave Tonelli 100 points in a season for the first time.

The Islanders, who will meet Washington in the first round of the playoffs, finished their season 40-34-6, their worst record since the 1973-74 season.

Washington 7, Pittsburgh 4--Bob Carpenter scored his 52nd goal to cap a four-goal first period at Pittsburgh that enabled the Capitals to score an easy victory. Carpenter will have one more game in which to try to increase his record for most goals by an American in one season.

Mario Lemieux had an assist to give him 99 points. In the final game of the regular season today, he will get a chance to become the third rookie to score 100 points.

Hartford 2, Quebec 1--The Nordiques blew their last chance to win the Adams Division when they couldn’t win at Hartford.

Rookie center Ray Ferraro scored a goal and assisted on the other to give the lowly Whalers the victory. Goaltender Steve Weeks turned aside 27 shots to gain the win.

Rookie Mark Kumpel got a goal when a clearing pass by the Whalers took a weird bounce and Kumpel scored before Weeks knew his team had lost possession.

The Nordiques had six power-play attempts and failed to convert any of them.

Buffalo 5, Toronto 2--Gates Orlando and Sean McKenna each had a goal and an assist at Toronto as the Sabres took over second place in the Adams Division.

But, with Montreal tying Boston, the Sabres lost a chance to win the division. They can finish second by beating Montreal tonight.