NHL Roundup : Gretzky Is Set-Up Man in Oilers’ 13-0 Rout of Canucks

On a night when his team scored 13 goals, Wayne Gretzky, the most prolific scorer in NHL history, didn’t get a goal.

Gretzky confined his duties to setting up goals Friday night at Edmonton as the Stanley Cup champion Oilers bombarded the Vancouver Canucks, 13-0.

As recently as last Saturday, the Canucks were only two points behind and talking about overtaking the Oilers in the Smythe Division. But Tuesday night, the Oilers went into Vancouver and won, 6-4. With this overwhelming victory, the Oilers have moved nine points ahead of the Canucks.

Gretzky, who had four assists, has 36 points in 14 games to lead the Oilers to an 11-2-1 record.

Dave Lumley topped the Oilers’ scoring with three goals and two assists. Jari Kurri had two goals as the Oilers fired 44 shots at Vancouver’s backup goaltender, Frank Caprice.

Andy Moog stopped 29 shots to register his first shutout in more than a year.

The Oilers gave the Canucks an idea of what to expect when their first shot, by Raimo Summenen, went into the net. Before the Canucks got their first shot on goal nine minutes into the game, the Oilers already had a 2-0 lead.

Moog had an easy time except in the second period, when the Canucks put the pressure on, taking 15 shots. In the other 40 minutes, Moog faced only 10.

New York Rangers 7, Winnipeg 3--The Rangers spotted the Jets a 3-1 lead in the first nine minutes at Winnipeg and roared back to score an easy victory.

Defenseman James Patrick, a native of Winnipeg, scored the go-ahead goal at 1:57 of the second period, the fourth Ranger goal in a string of six in a row.

The Jets finally removed goalie Brian Hayward late in the second period after he gave up 4 goals on 19 shots. But Dan Bouchard, his replacement, gave up 3 more on 10 shots.

Buffalo 5, St. Louis 4--Blue defenseman Jim Pavese gave Ric Seiling a push in front of the net, and the Sabre star turned it into the winning goal at Buffalo with 4:22 remaining.

The push coincided with a shot from the point by Dave Fenyves of the Blues, and Seiling managed to deflect it into the net. It was only Seiling’s second goal of the season.

The Blues, with Brian Sutter scoring twice, took a 4-3 lead into the final period. John Tucker’s high shot from just inside the blue line tied the score three minutes into the final period.

The 9 goals came on only 45 shots in the game. The Sabres had 23 of the shots.

New Jersey 5, Pittsburgh 3--Mark Johnson scored on a 55-foot drive with 5:20 left at East Rutherford, N.J., to break a 3-3 tie.

The Devils trailed, 3-2, going into the third period, but Greg Adams stole the puck and scored six minutes into the period. Rich Preston scored into an empty net with nine seconds remaining to end the scoring.

Toronto 3, Detroit 3--Tom Fergus scored with 5:46 left in regulation at Detroit to get the Maple Leafs even and enable them to end a nine-game losing streak.

The tie extended the Red Wings’ unbeaten streak to five games after they were winless in their first nine games. The Maple Leafs are 1-11-1.