NHL Roundup : Oilers Finally Rediscover the Way to Defeat the Upstart Canucks, 7-5

Playing at home, the Edmonton Oilers Saturday night rediscovered the way to beat Vancouver and put an end, at least temporarily, to their problems with the Canucks.

All they had to do was score seven goals.

The Canucks, with the next-to-the worst record in the National Hockey League, were unbeaten in their previous four games against the Stanley Cup champions. Vancouver, which has won only 11 of 47 games, beat the Oilers twice and the Oilers had to rally twice to gain ties.

Friday night at Vancouver, for example, Willi Lindstrom and Jari Kurri scored in the third period to wipe out a two-goal deficit and gain Edmonton a 4-4 tie.

It was a far cry from the first two meetings between the Smythe Division rivals. In those games the Oilers smashed the Canucks, 7-0, each time.

Saturday, the Oilers didn’t get their shutout, but they did score seven goals in settling for a 7-5 victory. Kurri, just getting back in form after missing three games with a back injury, scored twice and the incomparable Wayne Gretzky had a goal and three assists.

Ending the Canucks’ string of successes against them wasn’t all that easy for the Oilers. Edmonton, which gave up two goals during a string of nearly 15 minutes when it was at a manpower disadvantage, scored a short-handed goal in the second period and clicked on two power plays in the final period.

Defenseman Kevin Lowe, who drew a five-minute major for slashing Thomas Gradin, scored the decisive goal in the last period on the Oilers’ first power-play opportunity.

Gretzky’s goal was his 47th of the season. Kurri has 44 in the 43 games he has played.

Just before the game, Vancouver Coach Harry Neale warned his team: “The Oilers are like a time bomb. They might decide to go off at any moment. When they do, nobody in this league can handle them.”

Buffalo 2, Hartford 0--Ever since Sabres Coach Scotty Bowman resurrected a couple of clever old defensemen, Jim Schoenfeld and Jerry Korab, the club has been surging toward the top of the Adams Division.

In this game at Hartford, the Sabres improved their record in the last 14 games to 10-1-3 and moved to within a point of the division lead.

Tom Barrasso has turned in three shutouts since the two veterans joined the team. In this one, the youngster only had to face 14 shots. In addition, the 36-year-old Korab scored his first goal of the season late in the second period to give Barrasso all the offense he needed.

“People keep asking me what I’m doing differently,” Barrasso said. “I tell them I’m playing the same, it’s just that Jerry and Jim have made our defense so good that I’m not facing nearly as many shots.”

Either or both of the veterans has played in the last 21 games. During the span the Sabres are 13-2-6 and have given up only 45 goals.

Washington 7, New York Rangers 1--Bobby Carpenter and former Kings’ defenseman Larry Murphy each scored twice at Landover, Md. to keep the Capitals on top in the tight Patrick Division race.

Carpenter, the key performer in the Capitals’ drive that has given them a 22-4-2 record in their last 28 games, has a career-high 35 goals.

Quebec 4, Boston 3--Brent Ashton scored twice and assisted on the other two goals for the Nordiques at Quebec in a game the Bruins vowed not to forget.

Former King Charlie Simmer, who has 26 goals this season for the Bruins, went to the hospital with a jaw injury after a collision with Wilf Paiement of the Nordiques.

“We were down 4-2 when Simmer got it,” Coach Gerry Cheevers said, “so we couldn’t take any stupid penalties, but we won’t forget what happened.”

Pittsburgh 5, Chicago 4--It used to be that when the Penguins fell two goals behind they were beaten. In this game at Pittsburgh, they spotted the Black Hawks a four-goal lead.

Then, with rookie Joe McDonnell scoring his first NHL goal, the Penguins roared back to score five times in the second period for their 18th victory. Last season they won only 16 games.

Toronto 6, St. Louis 1--After winning only six of their first 41 games, the Maple Leafs have decided to fight back. They easily won their third in a row in this game at Toronto and broke even in a bench-clearing brawl in the closing seconds.

Philadelphia 4, Minnesota 1--Miroslav Dvorak and Ilkka Sinisalo scored short-handed goals just 66 seconds apart in the first period at Bloomington, Minn. to get the Flyers off to a flying start.

The Flyers, who are 3-0-1 in their last four games, remained one point behind Washington in the Patrick Division.

Winnipeg 8, Detroit 5--Thomas Steen broke a 4-4 tie early in the third period at Detroit, then scored again four minutes later to help the Jets extend the Red Wings’ winless streak to 11 games.

New Jersey 4, Montreal 4--John MacLeand deflected a blue-line blast by Phil Russell into the net with 1:58 left in regulation at Montreal to gain a tie for the Devils. The Canadiens missed a win in overtime when goalie Ron Low made a great save after Mario Tremblay deflected a shot by Craig Ludwig that seemed certain to go into the net.