NHL Roundup : Sinisalo Leads Flyers Over North Stars

Ilkka Sinisalo scored two goals, and goalie Bob Froese stopped 26 shots Friday night to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota North Stars at Bloomington, Minn.

It was the Flyers’ fifth consecutive victory over the North Stars and boosted Philadelphia’s league-leading point total to 38. Minnesota remained in third place in the Norris Division with 18 points.

Sinisalo opened the scoring 10:35 into the game with a power-play goal from the slot off Tim Kerr’s pass from behind the net.

Dave Brown gave Philadephia a 2-0 lead at 14:44 of the first period by stuffing a backhander past rookie goalie Jon Casey.

Sinisalo made it 3-0 with his 14th goal of the season at 2:07 of the second period when he converted Thomas Erikkson’s rebound.

Derrick Smith scored the Flyers’ last goal 1:41 later, snapping a 20-foot shot off Rich Sutter’s centering pass.

Montreal 5, Buffalo 2--Guy Carbonneau scored two goals and set up another in a four-goal outburst in the third period as the Canadiens rallied to win at Buffalo, N.Y.

Montreal was trailing, 2-1, when Carbonneau won a faceoff in the Buffalo zone and passed to Chris Nilan, who beat Buffalo goalie Tom Barrasso with the tying goal from 35 feet out.

N.Y. Rangers 5, Washington 2--Mark Pavelich scored the tying goal and set up the winning goal by Raimo Helminen within a 94-second span midway through the first period at Landover, Md.

The loss ended Washington’s 6-0-1 unbeaten string and was Capital goalie Pete Peeters’ first loss against two victories since coming from Boston in a Nov. 14 trade.

Detroit 5, St. Louis 3--Gerard Gallant scored a short-handed goal for the Red Wings midway through the second period to snap a 3-3 tie at Detroit. It was Gallant’s 13th goal of the season.

N.Y. Islanders 4, Winnipeg 1--Denis Potvin, bidding to break Bobby Orr’s all-time career scoring records for defensemen, got the decisive goal, his fifth of the season.

Potvin gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead midway through the first period at Winnipeg and drew within four points and five goals of Orr’s totals of 270 goals and 915 points.

Hartford 5, Vancouver 4--Stewart Gavin scored two goals as the Whalers finally solved a Pacific Coliseum jinx. It was Hartford’s first win in Vancouver after seven losses and three ties and lifted the Whalers over the .500 mark this season with an 11-10-0 record.