NHL Roundup : Nordiques Win Again With Malarchuk in Goal

Ever since the Quebec Nordiques put Clint Malarchuk in goal against the powerful Soviet Red Army team, he has been unbeatable.

Before facing the Soviets on Dec. 29, Malarchuk had been the backup for Mario Gosselin. In 13 starts he had posted just five victories.

But, when Malarchuk stopped 23 shots and Quebec handed the Russians their only loss in a six-game tour, 5-1, Coach Michel Bergeron played a hunch.

He decided to give Malarchuk, a part-time goalie for the Nordiques for the last four seasons, a full shot at No. 1.

It has paid dividends. Malarchuk stopped 27 shots Tuesday night at Quebec and the Nordiques trounced St. Louis, 7-4, for their fifth victory in a row.

Malarchuk has been the goaltender for all five victories.

“He has done a marvelous job,” Bergeron said. “Probably his best game was Sunday night. We had been on the road a lot and went into New York to play the Rangers and we were weary. We built a 5-0 lead, then collapsed. The Rangers scored four goals in the last period, but they had 20 shots and Malarchuk made a series of sensational stops.”

In Tuesday’s game, three of the four goals he gave up came when the Nordiques were short-handed. In the last five games, the 24-year-old netminder has yielded 13 goals.

In his three previous seasons Malarchuk posted a 4.45 goals-against averaged in 40 games. In 18 games this season he is just over 3.00.

The Stastny brothers, Anton and Peter, helped Malarchuk improve his record to 10-7-1. Anton scored two goals and assisted on another, while Peter scored a goal and set up three others.

Anton scored his two goals just 21 seconds apart in the second period to turn a 2-2 tie into a 4-2 lead. In a game against the Blues last season Anton scored goals just 11 seconds apart.

The victory enabled the Nordiques to pull into a tie with Montreal for first place in the Adams Division.

Mark Hunter scored twice for the Blues. Hunter, who scored 21 goals last season, the best of his four seasons with Montreal, has 25 goals already and has 43 games to play.

Washington 4, Detroit 3--The Capitals keep having a tough time beating the weaker teams. Last week they barely outlasted New Jersey.

In this game at Landover, Md., Bob Gould scored a short-handed goal with just 4:35 left in the game to beat the Red Wings.

With their 25th victory, the Capitals cut the Philadelphia Flyers’ lead in the Patrick Division to four points.

They never trailed in the game, but never had more than a one-goal lead. Greg Smith tied it for the Red Wings at 10:31 of the last period, and the Wings were working on a power play when Gould beat them.

Wing Chris Chihocki, getting one of his infrequent chances to play for Detroit, was hit in the mouth with a stick and stitches were required to close a wound in his tongue.

Hartford 9, Calgary 1--The Flames are making a serious bid to set an NHL record in futility.

In this game at Calgary, rookie Dean Evason and Kevin Dineen each registered the first first hat trick of his career and the Whalers handed the Flames their 11th defeat in a row.

The record for consecutive defeats is 17 set by the expansion Washington Capitals in 1975.

Evason had what is known as a “pure” hat trick. He scored the first three goals of the game. Dineen scored twice in the second period and once in the last period as the Whalers ended a three-game losing streak.

The Flames, who have not won since beating the Kings Dec. 12, avoided a shutout when Steve Konroyd scored after the Whalers built a 5-0 lead.

Minnesota 3, New York Islanders 2--Mats Hallin, who spent parts of three seasons with the Islanders, made his first goal as a member of the North Stars a memorable one.

Hallin, acquired last spring, fired a 40-foot shot past goaltender Billy Smith at 4:19 of the last period to break a 2-2 tie. It was the North Stars’ sixth win in the last seventh and the first at Uniondale, N.Y., in three years.

Vancouver 2, Winnipeg 2--A spectacular performance by goaltender Richard Brodeur enabled the Canucks to earn a tie.

Brodeur, in an exhibition of acrobatic goaltending, stopped 37 shots, including six or seven from point blank.

Despite the heroics of Brodeur, the Canucks trailed until Steve Tambellini, on a power play, scored at 10:13 of the last period. The Canucks had the only two shots in overtime.