NHL Roundup : Neely, Burridge Lead Bruins to 5-2 Victory

Cam Neely and Randy Burridge scored two goals apiece and Geoff Courtnall celebrated his 200th NHL game with his first goal of the season, leading the Boston Bruins to a 5-2 victory over the Hartford Whalers in Boston Garden Sunday night.

Rebounding from a 6-5 loss at Quebec Saturday night, the Bruins rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits for their second victory in three starts while handing winless Hartford a third consecutive defeat.

Boston goalie Doug Keans, making his first start, allowed a pair of first-period goals by Paul MacDermid, but shut down the Whalers the rest of the way. Keans had 25 saves while Mike Liut and Steve Weeks combined for 37 in the Hartford nets.

MacDermid got his first goal of the season by tipping home a shot by Randy Ladouceur at 6:35. Neely tied the score at 15:31, but MacDermid regained the lead for Hartford.

Hartford’s Doug Jarvis was benched, ending his playing streak at 964 games, a National Hockey League record.

Buffalo 6, Washington 5--Clark Gillies scored with 12 seconds gone in the third period to key the Sabres to the victory at home.

Gillies took a pass from Scott Arniel on a 2-on-1 breakaway and slid the puck to the open side of the net on Capitals goaltender Pete Peeters. Gillies’ goal gave the Sabres a 6-4 lead and their eventual winning goal.

Paul Cavallini narrowed the gap for Washington with an unassisted goal at the 6:30 mark.

Buffalo is 1-1-1 and Washington is 1-2.

The first period was wide open with Buffalo holding a 4-3 lead at the end of the first 20 minutes.

Phil Housley, Dave Andreychuk, John Tucker and Arniel scored in the first period for Buffalo while Garry Galley, Dave Christian and Mike Ridley scored for Washington.

Housley’s goal came on a power play while Ridley and Galley also scored with a man advantage. Chicago 5, Philadelphia 3--Rick Vaive unleashed a wicked 45-footer early in the final period to break a tie and goalie Bob Mason turned back all five Philadelphia power-play opportunities at Chicago as the Blackhawks won their first game of the year.

The Blackhawks blew the game open when Vaive and Troy Murray scored seven seconds apart with less than three minutes to play. Vaive’s second goal came right after the faceoff.

Vaive’s go-ahead goal broke a 2-2 tie and came after Murray had picked off an errant Philadelphia pass.

Philadelphia, 1-1-1, had not lost to Chicago since March 25, 1985 at Chicago Stadium.