NHL Roundup : Two Quick Goals Give Boston a 3-2 Win

Reed Larson and Steve Kasper scored 58 seconds apart late in the third period Thursday night to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 victory over Montreal at Boston, moving the Bruins past the Canadiens into first place in the Adams Division.

Montreal, which has played two fewer games than Boston, was on top by one point after defeating the Bruins, 5-4, Wednesday night in the opening game of the home-and-home series.

Fourteen seconds after Montreal tied the score, 1-1, on Mike McPhee’s short-handed goal with 2:26 left, Larson fired a shot from the right point that deflected off goalie Patrick Roy’s right pad and into the net, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead with 2:12 left.

Cam Neely, who gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 16:26 of the second period, set up Kasper’s goal to make it 3-1.

The Canadiens closed the gap to 3-2 on Bobby Smith’s goal with 50 seconds left and stormed goalie Rejean Lemelin in the closing seconds, but couldn’t get the equalizer.

Philadelphia 3, Buffalo 1--Dave Brown scored two goals at Philadelphia and the Flyers ended the Sabres’ six-game winning streak.

The victory put the Flyers back in first place in the NHL’s Patrick Division, one point ahead of the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders.

Brown gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 18:05 of the first period with his sixth goal of the season and padded the margin 56 seconds into the third period when his shot deflected off a skate and past Buffalo goalie Jacques Cloutier.

Kjell Samuelsson scored for Philadelphia at 13:25 of the first period and Christian Ruuttu evened it for Buffalo just over a minute later.

St. Louis 3, Hartford 2--Rick Meagher fired a 30-foot shot over goalie Mike Liut’s right shoulder with 1:05 left at St. Louis, and the Blues downed the Sabres to end a five-game losing streak.

St. Louis pulled even on Brian Sutter’s goal at 3:24 of the final period. Dave Tippett, playing his 300th straight game, gave the Whalers a 2-1 lead in the second period.

Hartford’s John Anderson scored 51 seconds into the game and Rob Ramage of the Blues tied it later in the period.

New York 8, Quebec 5--Denis Potvin became the first defenseman in NHL history to reach the 300-goal mark and Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter each scored twice as the Islanders downed the Nordiques at Uniondale, N.Y.

Quebec rallied on power-play goals by Anton and Peter Stastny to close within 6-5 after two periods, but LaFontaine scored on a breakaway 32 seconds into the third period and Sutter scored a minute later as the Islanders regained control.

Potvin also had an assist on Greg Gilbert’s first-period goal and has 1,030 career points.