NHL Roundup : Canadiens Hand Flames First Home Loss

Thursday night’s game between the Calgary Flames and the Montreal Canadiens was a dream matchup in that it featured hockey’s two best teams. The favorite, however slight, had to be Calgary, which had yet to lose at home.

But it was the Canadiens who opened strongly, scoring 4 goals in the second period, enough to hold off a late charge by the Flames and win, 4-3, ending Calgary’s home-ice unbeaten streak at 17 games.

Calgary was 14-0-3 at home going into the game.

“Well, we’ve got to play 80 games and the playoffs,” Calgary coach Terry Crisp said. “The record was nice. We took it as long as we could.”

Mats Naslund snapped a scoreless tie 54 seconds into the second period on a power play and Claude Lemieux made it 2-0 on a slap shot from the blue line at 4:06. Naslund scored his second goal 34 seconds later from the top of the left circle after a giveaway by defenseman Al MacInnis.

Stephane Richer’s power-play goal at 16:41 put the Canadiens up, 4-0, before the Flames mounted a spirited comeback.

Joel Otto’s tip-in on a power play at 17:35 gave the Flames some spark, and they pulled to within a goal late in the third period on scores 1:22 apart by Joe Mullen and Jiri Hrdina.

Philadelphia 3, Pittsburgh 2--Terry Carkner and Brian Propp scored second-period goals at Pittsburgh as the Flyers held on to beat the Penguins, ending their 8-game unbeaten streak.

The Penguins, who lead the Wales Conference, were 9-0-1 in their 10 previous home games, losing last to the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 8.

The Flyers, 11-2-1 in their last 14 games, limited Pittsburgh to just 17 shots on goal.

Toronto 6, Quebec 5--Ed Olczyk and Vincent Damphousse each scored twice, and goaltender Allan Bester stopped Michel Goulet’s penalty shot with 12 seconds remaining at Quebec City.

Toronto, which snapped a 10-game losing streak on the road, trailed 4-3 early in the third period when Olczyk and Gary Leeman scored 14 seconds apart to put the Maple Leafs ahead.

Trailing, 6-5, late in the third period, a penalty shot was awarded after Toronto defenseman Borje Salming knocked the net off its moorings during a scramble. Goulet moved in and tried to shoot high from in-close, but Bester got a piece of his glove on the puck and deflected it over the net.

Boston 6, New Jersey 2--Steve Kasper and Ken Linseman scored first-period goals as the Bruins cruised past the Devils at East Rutherford, N.J.

The Bruins snapped a 2-game losing streak.