NHL Roundup : Right Now, Whaler Coach Isn’t Worried About Getting Even

The immediate goal of Jack Evans is to win the Adams Division with his Hartford Whalers. The long range plan is to reach .500 as a coach.

Evans moved closer to both goals Saturday night at Hartford, Conn., when the Whalers, who appear to have shaken a midseason slump, beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1.

It is almost certain that the Whalers will win a division title before Evans becomes a .500 coach. The victory put the Whalers three points ahead of the Canadiens and Boston Bruins in the hotly contested division race. The 201st career win left Evans a mere 68 victories below .500.

Don’t get the idea Evans isn’t a good coach. He has been saddled with some real dogs. Old National Hockey League fans will remember the California Seals and the Cleveland Barons. They were pitiful examples of major league hockey. Evans lasted three seasons total with those teams beginning in 1975-76.

It took Evans five years to recover from the Seals and Barons. And when he did, he was handed a Whaler team that the season before (1982-83) won only 19 of 80 games.

Last season, his third as coach and general manager of the Whalers, he had his first winning season (40-36-4) and the battling Whalers carried the Stanley Cup champion Canadiens to a seventh game in the second round of the playoffs.

This season, the Whalers have built the division lead on the strength of their record against the champions (4-2-1).

“I’m not really much concerned about reaching .500, although I would like to before I retire,” Evans said. “But I’ve really enjoyed watching this team mature.

“We have survived some tough times, and this year the injuries to Sylvain (Turgeon) and Joel Quinneville have been difficult to overcome.”

Turgeon, just returning to form after abdominal surgery, broke a 45-minute scoreless tie with his ninth goal in 17 games and the Whalers never let the Canadiens get even again.

New Jersey 3, Philadelphia 2--It was a strange victory for the Devils against the injury-wracked Flyers at East Rutherford, N.J.

In nearly 15 minutes of power-play action, the Devils didn’t come close to scoring. And, in the second period, they had a club-record 23 shots and couldn’t score.

They scored two of their goals when they were short-handed and, to the delight of a sellout crowd of 19,040, scored twice on just five third-period shots.

Andy Brickley’s goal when his team was a man short three minutes into the final period tied the game at 2-2. Then, with just under seven minutes remaining, Aaron Broten deflected a shot by John McClean past goalie Ron Hextall for the game-winner. The Flyers argued in vain that the puck was kicked into the net.

The Flyers, who lost their fourth in a row, were without seven injured regulars. But, Brian Propp returned after missing 27 games with a knee injury and assisted on both of Tim Kerr’s goals. Kerr has 43 goals.

Detroit 5, Minnesota 3----Their ability to handle the North Stars has put the Red Wings back on top in the Norris Division.

The Red Wings scored three goals in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the third period at Bloomington, Minn., to move one point ahead of the North Stars. The Wings are 5-0-1 against the North Stars this season.

Goaltender Greg Stefan, who is 5-0-0 against the North Stars, turned aside 25 shots.

The North Stars led, 3-2, when Detroit erupted on goals by Darren Veitch, Gerard Gallant and Tim Higgins.

Boston 8, Toronto 5--Cam Neely had his first hat trick, and defenseman Michael Thelven scored twice at Boston to lead the Bruins to their ninth win in the last 11 games.

Thelven, a second-year player from Sweden, thought he had a three-goal game, also. At first he was given the goal that gave Boston a 6-5 lead six minutes into the last period. But a video replay showed that teammate Keith Crowder tipped the shot into the goal.

Quebec 5, Buffalo 2--Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny each scored twice at Quebec to lead the Nordiques to victory.

The Sabres not only gave goaltender Tom Barrasso poor protection, they didn’t have much offense, either. They had only 16 shots on goal.

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 1--Craig Simpson scored two goals on assists from Mario Lemieux at Pittsburgh, and the Penguins ended a three-game losing streak.

Gilles Meloche had a shutout for 51 minutes, then gave up a rebound goal by Doug Wilson.

New York Rangers 5, Washington 4--Tomas Sandstrom scored his second goal of the game with just 40 seconds left in overtime at Landover, Md., to snap the Capitals’ string of unbeaten overtime games.

The Capitals had gone 35 overtime games without losing--just two off the record set by Boston in the mid-30s.

Calgary 4, New York Islanders 1--Joey Mullen scored a power-play goal, the 199th goal of his NHL career, and assisted on another score to spark the Flames.

The Islanders lost center Brent Sutter in the first period with a neck injury.