NHL Roundup : Montreal Keeps Rolling, Defeats Hartford, 2-1

As the National Hockey League nears the halfway point of the regular season it has already had some surprising developments.

One month into the season, John Brophy was the toast of Toronto. Pat Burns, 36, and with little experience as a coach, was being booed at Montreal.

The Maple Leafs were 8-3-1, and the Canadiens, under Burns, who had coached junior teams for 3 years and the Montreal farm team in the American League last season, were 4-7-1 and in last place in the Adams Division.

Brophy, with an 11-20-2 record, was fired Monday, but Burns has turned the boos to cheers.

Guy Carbonneau scored his 13th goal late in the second period Monday night at Montreal to break a tie and lead the Canadiens to a 2-1 victory over Hartford.

The hard-earned victory extended the Canadiens’ unbeaten string in the Forum to 13 games and gave them a 21-10-6 record and a 13-point lead in the division.

Since the wobbly start under Burns, the Canadiens are 17-3-5.

Burns, who spent 15 years as a policeman before taking up coaching, succeeded Jean Perron. Under the unpopular Perron, the Canadiens were 45-22-13 last season, second best in the NHL. But when Boston knocked the Canadiens out of the playoffs in 5 games in the second round, Perron was gone.

The selection of Burns was a surprise. At the start, it appeared to be a disastrous move.

“I put in a new system and some of the guys had trouble adjusting,” Burns said. “They were used to sitting back and waiting for scoring chances to appear.

“We switched to trying to get on the puck right away. When it didn’t work too well at the start of the season, the fans weren’t very understanding.”

Everybody understands now because the aggressive Canadiens are playing the best hockey in the league.

They have lost only once in their last 13 games.

First, though, Burns, who is younger than veteran defenseman Larry Robinson, had to assert himself. When he benched rugged forward Claude Lemieux for lackadaisical play shortly after the season started, he let everyone know he was in charge.

“I really think it was just a matter of getting the idea of what we were trying to do,” Burns said. “The Whalers make it difficult for us to play the new system.

“They line up 4 men at the blue line and make it difficult to score.”

But lately, scoring has not been a problem for Carbonneau, better known for his playmaking and checking. His best previous goals total was 24. He seems certain to top that.

Toronto 4, St. Louis 3--The Maple Leafs were having the usual skate around before a game when they learned that Brophy had been replaced by George Armstrong, one of the NHL’s greats.

When Al Secord scored against his old mates on a power play with just 2:29 left in regulation play at Toronto, the Maple Leafs ended a 10-game winless string.

The Maple Leafs were 0-9-1 and had not won since Nov. 23 and had fallen from first place to fourth. Playing in the weak Norris Division, the Maple Leafs, despite a 12-20-2 record, are tied for third place.

The Leafs came out firing, but rookie goaltender Vincent Riendeau made a number of sensational stops. The Leafs never let up, though, winding up with 43 shots on goal and coming from behind 3 times.

Edmonton 5, Buffalo 5--Former King Jimmy Carson scored with 54 seconds remaining in the third period at Buffalo to give the Oilers a tie.

Carson scored his 29th goal and second of the game when the Oilers had a 6-4 advantage. They were working on a power play and pulled goalie Grant Fuhr just before the goal.

Carson was the key player the Oilers received in the Wayne Gretzky deal.

New York Rangers 3, Washington 1--Kelly Kisio scored 27 seconds into the third period at New York to break a 1-1 tie.

Tony Granato, leading scorer among rookies, clinched the victory with his 18th goal halfway through the last period. He was in the right spot when a pass hit a player in front of the net and bounced out right on Granato’s stick.

Vancouver 5, Minnesota 1--Rookie goaltender Troy Gamble kicked out 30 shots as the Canucks ended a two-game losing streak by beating the North Stars at Vancouver.

Gamble, a second-round draft choice 3 years ago, worked on a shutout until Brian MacLellan scored a power-play goal for Minnesota midway through the third period.