NHL Roundup : Washington Posts 5-3 Victory Over Montreal

Washington Coach Bryan Murray believes the Capitals can catch first-place Philadelphia, but not until the new year.

“We fell behind early in the season and that’s our problem,” Murray said Wednesday night after the Capitals scored a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Landover, Md.

“If we can stay close until January, we play them six times during the balance of the season and it’s up to us to close the gap,” Murray continued.

Dave Christian scored two goals and Mike Gartner scored one goal and added two assists, as the Capitals got scores from three different lines to stretch their unbeaten streak to seven games.

Washington is 4-0-3 during the streak but still trails the surging Flyers by seven points in the Patrick Division.

Pittsburgh 7, Toronto 1--Mike Bullard scored a goal and had two assists on Pittsburgh’s first three shots, chasing Toronto goalie Don Edwards and leading the Penguins to a fight-marred victory at Pittsburgh.

Right wing Doug Shedden also scored twice for Pittsburgh, including the second of the three early goals that forced Edwards out of the game for Tim Bernhardt with 9:17 expired. Defenseman Moe Mantha also picked up a goal and two assists for the Penguins.

The Leafs, who were without injured leading scorer Rick Vaive, lost Gary McAdam in the second period, when he was hit in the left eye with a puck. He received six stitches above the eye and five below.

Penalties handed out during the physical game included five major penalties, a game-misconduct, two 10-minute misconducts and a double minor.

Philadelphia 6, Winnipeg 1--Tim Kerr scored his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season as the Flyers won for the 11th straight time at home. The loss was the fourth in a row for Winnipeg.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead when Pelle Eklund took a close-in shot that Jets goaltender Brian Hayward saved. The rebound came out to Kerr, who shot the puck into the net for his league-leading 13th power-play goal of the season at 5:31 of the first period. Kerr later scored on a 2-on-1 break to give the Flyers a 3-0 advantage.

Calgary 5, New York Rangers 2--Lanny McDonald scored power play goals four minutes apart to break a second-period tie, then added a third-period assist to lead the Flames to victory in New York.

Rejean Lemelin, recording his league-leading 11th victory, won a battle of top goaltenders from New York’s John Vanbiesbrouck, who also entered the game with 10 victories. Lemelin made 30 saves.

Detroit 4, Buffalo 1--Rookie Petr Klima scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season as the Red Wings snapped a three-game losing streak. The loss was the second straight for the Sabres.

Vancouver 5, Edmonton 5--Steve Tambellini scored with 31 seconds left in the third period, giving the Canucks an overtime tie at Edmonton. With Vancouver goalie Frank Caprice pulled in favor of an extra attacker, Tambellini steered in the equalizer when left unguarded in front of goalie Andy Moog.

New York Islanders 4, Minnesota 4--Mike Bossy scored three times in the third period to rally the Islanders to an overtime tie at Bloomington, Minn.

The Islanders entered the third period trailing 4-1 before Bossy picked up his hat trick. He has scored six goals and four assists in his last six games.