Canadiens Arrive Late and Lose, 4-3

Keith Acton scored two goals and Dino Ciccarelli snapped a 2-2 tie with a goal 3:56 into the third period Monday, leading the Minnesota North Stars to a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Minnesota, which moved into a third-place Norris Division tie with Detroit, won back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 3.

The go-ahead goal materialized when Dirk Graham tossed a pass to Neal Broten at the right face-off circle. Broten then flipped a soft pass to Ciccarelli, whose tip-in eluded out-of-position Montreal goaltender Doug Soetaert.

One minute, four seconds later, Acton scored his second goal on a breakaway to give the Stars a two-goal cushion.

The game’s start was delayed one hour, 15 minutes when Montreal’s team charter had to hover over the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport because of blizzard-like conditions. The official gate showed that 12,420 tickets were sold, but the weather contributed to 6,519 no-shows.