NHL Roundup : Rangers Get Nudge From Esposito, Rally to Beat Islanders, 6-4

The New York Rangers, who had not won on the New York Islanders’ home ice in 7 tries dating to 1986, appeared to be keeping that streak alive Saturday night until a verbal thrashing by General Manager Phil Esposito and two late goals by rookie Tony Granato helped turn things around.

Trailing, 4-3, going into the final period, the Rangers scored three straight goals en route to a 6-4 victory. They were 0-5-2 in their last 7 games at Nassau Coliseum.

Tomas Sandstrom tied the game, 4-4, with 1:45 played in the final period with a power-play goal when he beat Kelly Hrudey during a scramble in front of the net.

Granato gave the Rangers the lead with 1:35 remaining and added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds left.

“James (Patrick) came up with the puck, a beautiful drop pass for me,” Granato said of his winning goal. “I took a couple of strides and let it go--got as much wood on it as I could.”

The Rangers took a 2-0 lead before the Islanders scored 3 straight goals to go up, 3-2, after one period. That drew the wrath of Esposito, who stormed into the locker room between periods to read his team the riot act.

“He let us know that he wasn’t going to put up with that kind of effort,” Ranger forward Don Maloney said. “We played like dogs in the first period. We got our legs back in the second.”

However, it was in the third period that the Rangers really took charge.

The teams will meet again tonight at Madison Square Garden in the second game of the home-and-home series.

“The game gives us a chance to redeem ourselves,” Islander center Pat LaFontaine said. “We came fired up, but we didn’t capitalize on some of our chances in the first and second periods. Then they fought back. Granato was the one that hurt. It was very frustrating.”

Boston 8, Chicago 2--Defenseman Ray Bourque scored his 200th NHL goal 26 seconds after the opening face-off, and rookie Greg Hawgood followed with his first, and the Bruins went on to beat the Blackhawks at Boston Garden.

The Bruins, who ended a 7-game winless streak against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, took 53 shots in handing Chicago its fifth straight defeat.

After taking a 2-0 lead, the Bruins outscored the Blackhawks, 3-2, in the second period, with all 5 goals on power plays. Boston added 2 power-play goals and 1 even-strength goal in the third period.

Hartford 4, Quebec 2--Ray Ferraro scored 3 power-play goals and goaltender Peter Sidorkiewiczblocked 37 shots to lead the Whalers past the Nordiques at Quebec.

After their second victory over Quebec in 4 days, the Whalers moved ahead of the Nordiques into fourth place in the Adams Division.

Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 3--Phil Bourque and Kevin Stevens scored third-period goals and Frank Pietrangelo made 41 saves as the Penguins beat Flyers at Pittsburgh.

The loss was the eighth in 10 games for the Flyers.

Bourque’s seventh goal of the season, 4:34 into the final period, gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead. Stevens made it 4-2 at 7:51 with his first goal, pumping a 20-foot shot through Ron Hextall’s pads.

Terry Carkner brought the Flyers within one when he put in his own rebound at 14:34.

Penguin Coach Gene Ubriaco completed his 5-game suspension, which he received when Troy Loney left the bench to engage in a fight Nov. 13 at Vancouver.

Montreal 7, Edmonton 5--Mats Naslund scored 3 goals, including the 200th of his NHL career, and Guy Carbonneau added a pair to spark the Canadiens past the Oilers at Montreal.

Carbonneau scored his second goal of the game and eighth of the season 40 seconds into the third period. It provided the Canadiens with a big lift, since the Oilers had pulled within 5-4 with a late second-period goal by Craig Simpson.

Former King Jimmy Carson scored in the second period for Edmonton, giving him 15 goals on the season.

Minnesota 6, Toronto 3--Marc Habscheid scored 2 goals as the North Stars defeated the Maple Leafs at Toronto and put together consecutive victories for the first time since last January.

Curt Fraser, Dino Ciccarelli, Curt Giles and Basil McRae also scored for the North Stars, who beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3, Friday night.

Minnesota (6-13-4) moved into a tie for fourth place in the Norris Division with the Chicago Blackhawks after being alone in last place since the first week of the season. Half of the North Stars’ victories are against the Maple Leafs.

St. Louis 4, Winnipeg 4--Mike Bullard broke out of a 5-game scoring slump with a goal and 2 assists as the Blues tied the Jets at St. Louis.

The tie snapped a 3-game losing streak for the Blues. The Jets are 4-1-1 in their last six games.