NHL Roundup : Flames Beat Whalers, 6-1, for 3rd Road Win in Row

Even the loss of three of their top players hasn’t prevented the Calgary Flames from putting on the hottest road show in hockey.

Colin Patterson scored twice, and Mike Bullard had a goal and two assists Wednesday night at Hartford to lead the Flames to a 6-1 victory over the Whalers.

It was the fourth win in a row for the Flames, their third straight on this trip, and improved the best road record in the NHL to 19-15-0. The Flames and Edmonton Oilers (17-15-1) are the only teams in the league above .500 away from home. No other team is within two games of .500.

During the trip the Flames have lost two 18-goal scorers, Hakan Loob and Joel Otto, and defenseman Neil Sheehy with injuries.

The Flames stunned the Adams Division leaders with two goals in the first 32 seconds and the Whalers never recovered. Doug Riseborough scored nine seconds after the opening faceoff and linemate Patterson scored 23 seconds later.

With Rejean Lemelin in the nets, that’s all the scoring the Flames needed. In winning for the 12th time in his last 13 games, Lemelin had an easy time. He faced only eight shots in the first 40 minutes and 17 all night.

“We’re on a roll,” said John Tonelli, who scored his 19th goal in the second period. “Our coaches came up with a good system and we come up with the people to execute it.

“I’m sure our size helps us do well on the road. Nobody pushes us around. We stick together. We don’t try to put on a show. We don’t get fancy, we just look for the easy play.”

The Flames’ three goals in the first period came on seven shots. At the start of the second period, Mike Liut replaced Steve Weeks in goal for the Whalers.

New York Rangers 3, Boston 2--While an “excited” Marcel Dionne was missing five shots on goal in his debut as a Ranger at New York, his teammates responded with an important victory.

Tomas Sandstrom collected a goal and an assist to spark the Rangers to the win that put them three points ahead of Pittsburgh in the battle for the last playoff spot in the Patrick Division.

Dionne, obtained in a trade with the Kings, had two shots from close range that were stopped by Boston goalie Bill Ranford.

Edmonton 6, Detroit 3--Wayne Gretzky had a goal and three assists at Edmonton to lead the Oilers to victory and pass another milestone.

Gretzky’s 57th goal was his 1,500th career point in less than eight seasons. He is No. 4 on the all-time list. For this season he has 164 points.

Philadelphia 6, New Jersey 4--Dave Poulin scored the decisive goal with 6:32 left at East Rutherford, N.J., and Tim Kerr scored his 48th as the Flyers extended the Devils’ winless streak to seven games (0-6-1).

It was the fourth win in the last five games for the Flyers and ended a three-game losing streak on the road.

St. Louis 3, Chicago 2--Defenseman Charlie Bourgeois scored just his 16th goal in 247 games, but it was the tie-breaking goal at Chicago.

Winnipeg 2, Montreal 1--Ray Neufeld scored on a power play in the first minute of the third period at Montreal to give the Jets the victory.

Toronto 4, Minnesota 2--Goalie Ken Wregget stopped 37 shots at Bloomington, Minn., and the Maple Leafs scored three times within 3:36 of the second period to gain the victory.