NHL Roundup : Canadiens Work Overtime but Maintain Lead

Bobby Smith scored with 1:22 left in overtime Saturday night, and the Montreal Canadiens preserved their tenuous lead in the Adams Division with a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal.

The victory kept the Canadiens one point ahead of Quebec.

Toronto’s Borje Salming forced the overtime when he scored his second goal of the season with 51 seconds left in regulation.

Less than two minutes earlier, Ryan Walter gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead on a slap shot that went between the legs of Toronto goaltender Ted Bernhardt at 17:36.

Tom Fergus scored on the Maple Leafs’ first shot of the game and Montreal’s Guy Carbonneau tied the game in the second period with his 16th goal.

Quebec 4, Buffalo 3--Brent Ashton scored his second goal of the game with 3:36 left and the Nordiques continued to torment the Sabres at Quebec City.

Buffalo last won at Le Colisee on Dec. 15, 1982.

Minutes earlier, Quebec goaltender Clint Malarchuk stopped Gilbert Perreault on a breakaway to keep the score tied. The victory was Malarchuk’s 10th straight.

Perreault earlier had scored his 497th goal of his career, moving him within three of becoming the 12th player in NHL history to reach 500.

Philadelphia 1, St. Louis 0--Rookie goalie Darren Jensen made 48 saves to record his second shutout of the season and Brad McCrimmon scored the goal as the Flyers beat the Blues at St. Louis.

Jensen, called up Nov. 14 to replace the late Pelle Lindbergh, improved his season record to 13-3 and has lost only once in his last 11 games. He made 23 saves in the final period.

McCrimmon scored at 13:12 of the first period on a pass in front of the net by Dave Poulin, who pulled Blues’ goalie Greg Millen out of position with a fake.

Washington 6, Minnesota 3--Bengt Gustafsson had a goal and four assists, and Dave Christian scored twice, as the Capitals turned back the North Stars at Bloomington, Minn.

Christian and Gustafsson each scored to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead after one period, and Gustafsson assisted on Darren Veitch’s goal to make it 3-0 at 3:23 of the second period.

Gustafsson assisted on third-period goals by Christian--his 28th of the season--and Mark Taylor.

Hartford 7, Winnipeg 2--Wayne Babych had a goal and three assists as the Whalers extended their winning streak to five games by routing the Jets at Hartford, Conn.

Babych, rejuvenated by the Jan. 18 trade from Quebec, has two goals and eight assists in the four games with the Whalers.

Babych had a first period goal and sparked a four-goal second period by setting up scores by Sylvain Turgeon, Joel Quenneville and Ray Ferraro. Rookie Mike Hoffman capped the second-period outburst with his first NHL goal.

Chicago 3, N.Y. Islanders 3--Al Secord scored his 24th goal of the season from a scramble in the crease at 11:38 of the third period to pull the Black Hawks even with the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

Chicago’s Ed Olczyk opened the scoring on a power play at 8:49 of the first period, but Mike Bossy tied the score with his 35th goal.

Roger Kortko’s 40-footer put the Islanders in front, 2-1, at 7:12 of the second period, but Chicago tied it on Denis Savard’s 34th goal 37 seconds into the third period.

Pat LaFontaine, who later left with a separated shoulder, put the Islanders back in front with his 22nd goal.

Boston 6, Detroit 3--Rick Middleton scored three goals for the eighth hat-trick of his career as the Bruins dumped the Red Wings in a brawl-filled game at Boston.

The game was marked by eight fights, including five in the first period. The featured bout was between 6-3 Bob Probert of Detroit and 6-5 Gord Kluzak of Boston, who exchanged right-hand punches for a full two minutes late in the opening period.

Referee Andy Van Hellemond whistled 136 minutes in penalties--70 against Detroit and 66 against Boston.

Calgary 5, Pittsburgh 2--Jim Peplinski snapped a 2-2 tie with his second goal of the game and the Flames scored three times in the third period to down the Penguins at Calgary.

Eddy Beers and Al MacInnis added insurance goals, the latter into an empty net.