NHL Roundup : Haworth Continues Scoring Spree for Capitals

Alan Haworth continued his hot streak Tuesday night at Landover, Md., scoring two goals and assisting on two others to lead the Washington Capitals to an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks.

One of the reasons the Capitals are doing well without injured defensive ace, Rod Langway, is that Haworth is scoring goals at a rapid clip. The 25-year-old center has scored goals in six consecutive games. In his fifth NHL season, Haworth has 8 goals in 13 games. His career high is 24 goals.

Langway, one of the league’s top defensemen, suffered a knee injury Oct. 23. He will be out at least another 10 days. Coach Bryan Murray was afraid the Capitals would have a rough time because they had not shown much offense for the last two seasons.

But, in the six games since Haworth went out, the Capitals are 4-1-1. With Haworth scoring in each of them, the Capitals have scored 33 goals in the six games.

“A lot of people have played very hard,” Murray told the Associated Press. “We had started to play well together before Rod went out. We have come a long way since losing the first three games of the season.

“This is a hockey team we can build on. A lot of people can kick in. A lot of people get ice time, and we receive dividends by doing that.

“We’ve always looked at Alan as a potential 30-to-35-goal scorer. But he wouldn’t shoot until we moved him to center. We used to insult him, pat him on the back and did everything to get him to shoot. Now he’s penetrating more and seems to be freer. He didn’t do that off the wing.”

There are also signs that Bob Carpenter is getting back in form. The 22-year-old center set a record for goals by an American-born player last season by scoring 53. But a training camp leg injury set him back and he missed the exhibition season.

Carpenter opened the scoring late in the first period, and it was only his fifth goal of the season. He also assisted on a goal in the second period. If Carpenter gets going the Capitals will be ready to challenge Philadelphia for the lead in the Patrick Division.

“We want to really be rolling by the time Rod returns, “ Haworth said. “I’m trying to do my part.”

Quebec 7, Boston 5--John Anderson and Anton Stastny led a four-goal third-period rally at Quebec that enabled the Nordiques to gain the victory.

Although they outshot the Bruins, 26-13, in the first 40 minutes, the Nordiques, trying to shake their first slump of the season, trailed, 4-3, going into the final period.

Anton Stastny, who had failed to score a goal in nine games before getting his fourth goal of the season late in the first period, set up Alain Cote to open the last-period rally. He climaxed the burst with his second goal of the game with 3:35 left.

The Nordiques had 18 shots in the last 20 minutes to make it 44 fired at Pete Peeters.

Montreal 8, Hartford 3--The Canadiens welcomed back their enforcer, Chris Nilan, for this game at Hartford, but it was another Chris, Chelios, who led them to victory.

Nilan, a tough right wing, served an eight-game suspension for attacking Boston’s Rick Middleton with his stick. In the first period he picked up a major penalty for fighting.

By that time Chelios already had a goal and the Canadiens were rolling. Chelios wound up with two goals and two assists to help turn the game into a rout.

While Nilan was suspended, the Canadiens were 2-5-1 and fell into last place in the Adams Division. They are still in last place, but the victory put them only one point behind the Whalers.

New York Islanders 4, Calgary 4--Mike Bossy scored twice in the third period at Uniondale, N.Y., to give the Islanders the lead, but Hakan Loob scored halfway through the period to get the tie.

The Flames’ penalty-killing unit held the Islanders to one goal in six power-play opportunities. At one point in the second period the Flames were two men short for 55 seconds and kept the Islanders away from the net.

Bossy has 9 goals in 11 games this season.

Edmonton 6, Vancouver 4--Spectacular goals by Mark Messier and Jari Kurri midway through the third period triggered the Oilers to a comeback victory over the Canucks before a sellout crowd of 16,553 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

Wayne Gretzky added two goals for the Oilers, giving him 10 for the season, the last coming into an empty net. Gretzky also had an assist, but twice was stopped on breakaways by Vancouver netminder Richard Brodeur.

Messier tied the score at 4-4 with a blazing shot from the top of the left circle at 9:11, and Kurri fired the winner at 11:41 with a rifle-like shot from the right boards that eluded Brodeur.