NHL Roundup : Barrasso Leads Sabres to Sixth Straight Victory

Tom Barrasso turned in another sparkling goaltending performance Friday night at Buffalo to lead the surging Sabres to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins for their sixth consecutive victory.

The tight Sabre defense permitted the improved Penguins only 18 shots on goal and Barrasso stopped 16 of them. In the six-game streak, Barrasso has yielded only nine goals.

With Barrasso back in the form that made him the best goalie in the league as a rookie last season, the Sabres have emerged from the pack as a challenger to the Montreal Canadiens in the Adams Division.

Before the streak started, the Sabres were in fourth place, 12 points behind the Canadiens. They have cut that lead to seven points. While the Canadiens are showing signs of tailing off after a fast start, the Sabres have welcomed back some injured players and are playing their best hockey.

Brent Peterson, better known for his defensive play, assisted on three of the Sabres’ goals, as they handed the Penguins only their fourth loss in the last 14 games. The Sabres improved their home record to 13-1-6.

“This team is beginning to play well,” Coach Scotty Bowman said. “We are getting offense from a lot of different people.”

Quebec 5, Washington 3--The Nordiques are the league’s most unpredictable team. On their bad nights they can’t beat the weakest team. Yet, on their good ones, they can beat anyone.

In this game at Landover, Md., it was the Nordiques at their best. Jean Sauve scored twice on power plays and Wilf Paiement scored one of his two goals while his team was shorthanded and the Nordiques handed the Capitals their third loss in the last 21 games.

Paiement scored the final goal into an empty net with 28 seconds left to assure the Nordiques of their fourth game in a row without a loss (3-0-1).

Edmonton 7, Winnipeg 4--The Oilers rallied for four goals in the last 11 1/2 minutes at Edmonton to wipe out a 4-3 deficit and continue their dominance of the Jets. The Oilers have beaten the Jets 19 times in a row.

Jaroslav Pouzar had his first two goals of the season for the Oilers, Jari Kurri had two to give him 39 for the season and Wayne Gretzky had three assists.

Dale Hawerchuk scored three of the Winnipeg goals and assisted on the other.