NHL Roundup : Sabres Give Ramsay His First Win

At least, Coach Craig Ramsay of the Buffalo Sabres won’t get fired before he wins a game in the National Hockey League.

Amid rumors that ownership is contemplating another shakeup, defenseman Phil Housley scored twice on power plays, and Paul Cyr scored the decisive goal in a 4-3 victory for the Sabres over the Boston Bruins Friday night at Buffalo.

Ramsay replaced General Manager Scotty Bowman as coach Nov. 6. The Sabres were 0-7-1 in the first eight games under Ramsay.

A story earlier this week in the Toronto Globe and Mail said that both Bowman, the winningest coach in NHL history, and Ramsay would be fired within a week.

Bowman, who has a contract through next season, angrily denied the story that said assistant general manager Gerry Meehan would replace Bowman, and former Coach Jim Schoenfeld would replace Ramsay.

Three days ago, Bowman met with owners Seymour and Northrup Knox. According to the newspaper, Bowman was rebuked for negotiating large contracts with his players.

The victory gave the Sabres a 5-14-3 record, the worst in the league.

Philadelphia 4, Washington 2--In recent seasons, the Capitals would start slowly, start to pick up a month into the season and wind up one of the powers of the NHL.

The start was the same this season, but suddenly, it’s time for management to start wondering if they will straighten out at all.

Peter Zezel and Brian Propp scored goals less than four minutes apart in the second period at Landover, Md., as the Flyers extended the Capitals’ winless streak to nine games. The Flyers, unbeaten in six games, are 16-4-2, best in the league.

On the other hand, the Capitals, who have kicked one of their brightest stars, Bobby Carpenter, off the team, are 7-12-5 and trail the Flyers by 15 points.

Minnesota 6, Toronto 3--The Maple Leafs, leaders of the Norris Division, are one of the most improved teams in the NHL, except when they play the North Stars.

With Brian Lawton scoring two goals and assisting on another at Bloomington, Minn., the North Stars extended their mastery over Toronto to 11 games. The last time the Leafs beat the Stars was Feb. 27, 1985.

St. Louis 2, Detroit 1--Mark Hunter scored goals some 50 minutes apart at Detroit, and the second one was the clincher with just 50 seconds remaining in overtime.

Hunter scored his 10th goal of the season at 11:18 of the first period, but goaltender Sam St. Laurent was tough thereafter.

With time running out in the extra period, Hunter skated down the right wing, took a pass from Bernie Federko and blasted a shot off St. Laurent’s pads into the net.

Chicago 6, Edmonton 5--The lowly Blackhawks, playing without their best player, Denis Savard, won for only the sixth time in 24 games on Al Secord’s power-play goal with just 51 seconds left in overtime at Edmonton.

In an earlier appearance at Edmonton this year, the Blackhawks were beaten, 9-1. Troy Murray’s goal with 72 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime.

Savard left the arena during the game when he learned his mother was ill.