NHL Roundup : Gartner Sparks Capitals

Mike Gartner, who scored two goals in a season-opening loss, scored three more Saturday night to lead the Washington Capitals past the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-4, at Landover, Md.

Craig Laughlin added a pair of goals for Washington as the Capitals handed the Blackhawks their second straight loss to open the season.

Bengt Gustafsson gave the Capitals the lead for good, 3-2, stealing the puck from Troy Murray at center ice and skating down the left side to beat Chicago goalie Darren Pang for a short-handed goal with 1:12 left in the first period.

Gartner, who led the Capitals with 41 goals last season, scored twice in the first period, helping the Capitals build a 4-2 lead. The strong start is a contrast to last season, when he had only 10 goals in the first 40 games.

“I tried just as hard at the beginning of last year, but the puck wasn’t going in,” Gartner said. “Now it is, and you just have to take advantage.”

Philadelphia 5, Minnesota 4--Ilkka Sinisalo had two goals and an assist, and Murray Craven scored twice at Bloomington, Minn., as the Flyers spoiled former U.S. Olympic Coach Herb Brooks’ first home game as the North Stars’ coach.

Dave Archibald, an 18-year-old center playing in his first NHL game, scored two goals in the second period for Minnesota that tied the game, 3-3.

Montreal 6, Buffalo 3--Stephane Richer scored two goals and Mats Naslund had five assists, one short of the Canadiens’ record, to hand the Sabres their eighth straight loss at Montreal.

The Canadians built a 4-2 lead in the first period against Buffalo goalie Tom Barrasso and never looked back. Naslund assisted on both Richer goals, in the first and second periods.

N.Y. Rangers 6, Hartford 2--Goalie Bob Froese turned aside a career-high 44 shots, and Gordie Walker collected a pair of assists to lead the Rangers at Hartford, Conn.

The Whalers, losing their second straight game, had a pair of power-play goals in the first period before being shut down by Froese, who also had an assist on the Ranger goal that tied the game, 2-2, in the second period. Froese cleared the puck up the boards to Willie Huber, who scored on a shot from the Hartford blue line.

Marcel Dionne also had a goal for New York.

Toronto 5, New Jersey 2--Al Iafrate broke a 2-2 tie with two third-period goals to give the Maple Leafs the win at Toronto.

Iafrate, a defenseman who also had two assists, got the game-winner 4:20 into the final 20 minutes when he took the rebound of Wendel Clark’s shot and put it past Devil goalie Alain Chevrier.

N.Y. Islanders 7, Vancouver 1--Power-play goals by Brent Sutter, Gord Dineen, Mikko Makela and Bob Bassen at Vancouver helped the Islanders to their second straight win.

Sutter scored his goal 1:50 into the game and Tomas Jonsson added the eventual game winner with 2:02 left in the first period. That put the Islanders up, 2-0.

Quebec 6, Boston 5--Randy Moller’s goal 2:56 into overtime gave the Nordiques the win at Quebec City.

Michel Goulet scored twice and had two assists for the Nordiques.

Winnipeg 5, Calgary 1--The Jets, the last team to open the season, scored twice in the second period and three more times in the third and got solid play in the nets by Daniel Berthiaume at Calgary.