NHL ROUNDUP : Canadiens Spoilers Again, 5-2
Once again, the Montreal Canadiens played spoilers.
After stopping New Jersey’s seven-game streak earlier in the week, the Canadiens beat Toronto, 5-2, Saturday night at Montreal to end the Maple Leafs’ streak of an NHL record of 10 victories at the start of the season.
The Maple Leafs had broken their record of eight that they set in 1934-35 and shared with the 1975-76 Buffalo Sabres.
“It’s always nice to play Toronto because I spent five years with them,†said Vincent Damphousse, who led the Canadiens with three goals. “I needed those goals because I had only two in my first 11 games, but I’ve been working on the exercise bike and I found my legs tonight.â€
Damphousse scored twice in the second period and added a power-play goal in the third for Montreal (7-3-2), which is unbeaten in its last six games. The goals gave him 200 for his eight-year career.
New Jersey 5, Philadelphia 3--Stephane Richer scored a controversial goal early in the third period to break a 3-3 tie at East Rutherford, N.J.
Skating down the right wing, Richer fired a shot at a sharp angle and the puck appeared to pass through the goal netting. The goal light did not flash and referee Paul Stewart did not signal a goal. Only after the next stoppage of play and a prolonged review by the video judge was the goal awarded at 5:26.
New York Rangers 4, Hartford 1--Adam Graves scored twice and Sergei Zubov had three assists to lead the Rangers at Hartford, Conn. Hartford, winless in its last seven games, coverted only one of 10 power plays. The Rangers scored three power-play goals in seven chances.
Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 3--Jaromir Jagr scored two goals and set up another in the third period as the Penguins, playing without Mario Lemieux, won at Pittsburgh.
Lemieux’s comeback from back surgery lasted less than 48 hours. Lemieux had two assists in about 21 minutes against Quebec on Thursday, his first game since last spring’s playoffs.
St. Louis 2, Boston 1--Kevin Miller scored with eight seconds left and goaltender Jim Hrivnak made 46 saves to lead the Blues at Boston. Miller worked a give-and-go with Brendan Shanahan to score his 10th goal.
Detroit 5, Quebec 3--Dino Ciccarelli and Paul Coffey scored 1:43 apart late in the second period at Quebec to lift the Red Wings.
Florida 2, Tampa Bay 1--Dave Lowry scored his second goal of the game on a pass from Brian Skrudland with four seconds left in overtime to give the Panthers the victory at Miami.
Buffalo 6, Vancouver 3--Alexander Mogilny, who has turned the Sabres’ offense around since returning from a leg injury, scored two goals at Vancouver.
Mogilny has four goals.
Calgary 4, Edmonton 1--Joe Nieuwendyk scored his club-leading ninth goal at Calgary as the Flames extended Edmonton’s winless streak to 11 games.
The loss was the eighth in a row for the Oilers, who are 0-10-1 in their last 11 games.
Ottawa 5, Dallas 4--Dave Archibald’s unassisted goal with 20 seconds left in overtime gave the Senators their first road victory.
Washington 4, San Jose 2--Craig Berube and Peter Bondra scored first-period goals for the Capitals at San Jose.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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