NHL Roundup : Nordiques Continue Mastery of Whalers With a 5-1 Victory

The Quebec Nordiques picked up where they left off against the Hartford Whalers as a new National Hockey League season got under way.

Quebec won four straight games to eliminate Hartford in their Adams Division semifinal playoff series of the 1986-87 season, and the Nordiques beat the Whalers again Thursday night at Hartford, Conn., as Jason Lafreniere scored twice and Peter Stastny had four assists to lead the way in a 5-1 victory.

Michel Goulet and Jeff Brown each added a goal and an assist, and rookie Tommy Albelin also scored, helping Coach Andre Savard gain his first NHL win.

“We know how to beat these guys,” Quebec defenseman Randy Moller said. “We did what we had to do.”

Sylvain Turgeon scored the only Hartford goal against Nordique goalie Mario Gosselin, who had 29 saves.

Pittsburgh 4, N.Y. Rangers 4--A goal by Wilf Paiement, a former Ranger, midway through the third period and three assists by Mario Lemieux helped the Penguins, playing their first game under Coach Pierre Creamer, to a tie at New York.

The Penguins led, 3-2, after two periods, with Mario Lemieux setting up all three goals. But Tomas Sandstrom tied the game for the Rangers in the third with a wrist shot from the slot that got past goalie Pat Riggin. Later in the period, Sandstrom broke in alone, drew Riggin out and scored into the empty net at 9:26 to give New York a short-lived lead. Walt Poddubny set up both goals by the Swedish winger.

Fifteen seconds after the second Sandstrom goal, Paiement tipped Moe Mantha’s slapshot past Ranger goalie Bob Froese.

Montreal 2, Philadelphia 2--Claude Lemieux scored with 3:19 left in regulation at Philadelphia to give the Candiens the tie.

Neither team managed a shot in the five-minute overtime.

Philadelphia’s Mark LaForest, playing for suspended goalie Ron Hextall, the Vezina Trophy winner who is serving an eight-game suspension for a slashing incident in last season’s Stanley Cup final, turned back 22 Montreal shots.

Toronto 7, Chicago 5--A crowd of 18,471 at Chicago Stadium, the largest opening-night crowd in the franchise’s 62-year history, saw Tom Fergus put in a 30-foot shot midway through the second period to snap a 3-3 tie and then set up Miroslav Frycer’s goal with 17 seconds left in the period to send the Maple Leafs to the win.

Dan Daoust had two goals and an assist, and Mark Osborne added two first-period scores for Toronto.

The Maple Leafs took a 3-2 lead in the first period and moved out to a 6-3 advantage midway through the third period.

Boston 4, Washington 3--Cam Neely took a pass from Geoff Courtnall and beat goalie Clint Malarchuk with 2:05 left in the game to give the Bruins the win in their 64th home opener.

Rookie Bob Sweeney scored twice for Boston, as did Mike Gartner for Washington.

Minnesota 2, Buffalo 2--Brian MacLellan’s goal at 1:52 of the second period lifted the North Stars into the tie at Buffalo, N.Y.

The Sabres scored both their goals in the first period.

Minnesota goalie Don Beaupre made 36 saves, while the North Stars, coming off a last-place finish in the Norris Division, had only 20 shots on goal.

Calgary 5, Detroit 1--Hakan Loob had a goal and an assist to lead the Flames at Calgary, Canada.

The Flames had a 3-1 lead in the first period. Still, Red Wing goalie Glen Hanlon kept the score respectable, stopping 38 of 43 shots. His counterpart, Calgary’s Mike Vernon, faced only 16 attempts.

Vancouver 8, St. Louis 2--Two players acquired in an off-season deal with the New Jersey Devils played key roles for the Canucks at Vancouver as Greg Adams scored twice in the first period and once each in the second and third periods to tie the team single-game record for goals, and goalie Kirk McLean played a steady game.

Rick Meagher scored both St. Louis goals.

Vancouver had four rookies in the opening-night lineup. The game marked the debut of Canuck Coach Bob McCammon.