NHL Roundup : Montreal Has Lost Captain but Keeps Winning

Even the loss of Bob Gainey, their captain, hasn’t slowed the Montreal Canadiens.

Gainey broke a bone in his foot Monday night, and the Canadiens went on to lose to Detroit, ending a 9-game winning streak.

But Saturday night at Toronto, Russ Courtnall, a former Maple Leaf, scored twice to lead the Canadiens to a 5-3 victory, their second win in a row without Gainey, who will be out 6 weeks.

The Canadiens, who lead the Adams Division by 24 points, improved their record, best in the National Hockey League, to 31-11-6.

Courtnall, making his first appearance at Maple Leaf Gardens since he was traded Nov. 7, scored late in the first period to give Montreal a 2-1 lead. Then, on a power play in the third period, he scored his 10th goal of the season to put the Canadiens ahead, 4-2.

Defenseman John Kordic, who went to Toronto in the Courtnall trade, vowed to take out his frustration on his former mates.

But on his first shift, Kordic was hit in the nose accidentally by a stick wielded by one of his present teammates. After getting several stitches, he returned but was ineffective all night.

Calgary 1, Minnesota 1--Brian Bellows scored early in the third period at Bloomington, Minn., to give the North Stars a tie, one of four in the NHL Saturday. It enabled them to move into third place in the Norris Division despite a 13-22-8 record.

Minnesota dominated most of the game, but the Flames almost made an early goal by Jari Hrdina stand up. The North Stars had 42 shots on goal.

Goaltender Mike Vernon made numerous remarkable saves before Bellows scored, to the delight of 15,169 fans, the first sellout for the North Stars in almost 2 years.

New York Rangers 4, Pittsburgh 4--Already, in less than a season in the NHL, center Tony Granato of the Rangers has found a favorite foe.

Granato completed a hat trick with just 3:18 remaining in regulation, and it earned a tie in an afternoon game at Pittsburgh.

Granato, a star on the U.S. Olympic team, has 25 goals in his rookie season, and 7 of them are against the Penguins in just 3 games.

Granato and defenseman Brian Leetch are candidates for rookie of the year and have played big roles for the Rangers. New York is 4 points behind Washington in the tight battle in the Patrick Division.

Detroit 5, Boston 5--With a splendid performance at Boston, Steve Yzerman earned the Red Wings a tie, but he was disappointed.

Yzerman scored 2 goals and assisted on 3 others. But Ken Linseman scored halfway through the final period to give the Bruins the tie.

“I got some points, but I don’t know if I played all that great,” Yzerman said. “Things haven’t gone too well in the last couple of weeks. We’ve been struggling a bit. I haven’t been happy with my play lately.”

Yzerman has 41 goals in 44 games.

Chicago 5, New York Islanders 3--With only 72 seconds played at Uniondale, N.Y., Pat LaFontaine scored the first of his 3 goals.

But Denis Savard tied the game just 28 seconds later, and it triggered a 4-goal outburst that veteran goaltender Billy Smith was pulled after just 14:11.

Kelly Hrudey, his replacement, stopped the Blackhawks until he was removed for an extra attacker in the last minute of the game, when the Blackhawks’ Dave Manson scored into an empty net.

The Blackhawks, who had not won on the road in more than 2 months, have won only 4 of 24 road games.

Quebec 1, Buffalo 1--The Nordiques outplayed the Sabres at Quebec, but it was not until the final 3 minutes of regulation that Marc Fortier scored to get them even.

The Nordiques outshot the Sabres in every period, winding up with a 41-21 margin. But goaltender Daren Puppa thwarted them until Fortier knocked in a loose rebound.