NHL Roundup : Oilers Snap 122-Minute Scoreless Streak, but Canadiens Still Win, 3-1

It was expected that after being shut out at Quebec Tuesday night, the Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers would take their wrath out on the Canadiens Wednesday night at Montreal.

But goalie Patrick Roy would have none of that. Roy made a spectacular stop of a breakaway by Wayne Gretzky midway through the first period, then was almost invincible as the Canadiens scored a 3-1 victory.

Roy stopped 23 shots and had a shutout until just 3:14 remained, when Gretzky set up Charles Huddy for a power-play score. It ended a scoreless streak of 122 minutes for the Oilers, who were beaten by the Nordiques, 5-0, Tuesday night.

Chris Chelios set up all three goals as the Canadiens beat the Oilers after losing six in a row to the champions. They had lost four straight to the Oilers at the Forum. The last time the Canadiens had beaten the Oilers was on March 15, 1984.

It may be that Roy, who defeated the Oilers for the first time, will have several days to savor the victory. He is expected to be suspended because of a recent stick-swinging incident in which he injured Minnesota’s Warren Babe.

“We know that everyone’s gunning for us, especially when we play at the Colisee (Quebec) or the Forum,” Oiler defenseman Kevin Lowe said. “You need the kind of lesson we were taught the last two games, during the course of a season.”

Toronto 5, New York Islanders 2--Allan Bester entered this game at Toronto with a goals-against average of 10.29, but he lowered it considerably.

While Mark Osborne and Ed Olczyk were each scoring twice, Bester was called upon to face only 19 shots, and he stopped 17 of them to win his first start.

In his only other appearance, he gave up six goals in 35 minutes while relieving Ken Wregget during a 10-3 loss to Montreal.

Osborne scored his first goal 83 seconds after the opening faceoff, and Greg Terrion, called up from the minors just before the game, scored later in the period. The Maple Leafs went on to end a three-game losing streak.

Buffalo 2, Hartford 2--Spectacular goaltending by Tom Barrasso enabled the Sabres to gain a tie at Hartford.

Barrasso stopped 33 shots, 16 after Kevin Dineen scored Hartford’s second goal at 11:17 of the second period. The Whalers are unbeaten in the last four games.

Detroit 5, Winnipeg 1--Steve Yzerman scored two goals, and goaltender Greg Stefan stopped 35 shots at Winnipeg to lead the Red Wings.

Yzerman, scoring in his seventh consecutive game, converted a power-play attempt in the first period, then got his seventh goal of the season in the second period.

Petr Klima scored a short-handed goal at 4:25 of the second period to break a 1-1 tie.