NHL Roundup : Canadiens Frustrate Penguins, 5-1

In the late 1970s, when the Montreal Canadiens dominated the National Hockey League, they delighted in making life miserable for hot players and hot teams.

The Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup only once this decade, but they are showing similarities to the old Montreal teams. They are making things tough for people on streaks.

On Saturday night, for example, they ended the Buffalo Sabres’ 9-game unbeaten string. Then, Tuesday night at Pittsburgh, the way the Canadiens manhandled Mario Lemieux and the Penguins was even more like the old Montreal teams.

The Canadiens didn’t just shut down Lemieux, the runaway NHL scoring leader, they soundly defeated Pittsburgh, 5-1, ending a three-game winning streak that had the Penguins challenging the New York Rangers for first place in the Patrick Division.

In those three games, Lemieux, continuing a blistering pace that could wipe out Wayne Gretzky’s records for goals and points, had 4 goals and 10 assists.

Lemieux had failed to get at least a point in only one of the last 27 games, but the Canadiens, with goaltender Patrick Roy playing brilliantly, held him scoreless Tuesday.

Roy stopped 38 shots, giving up only a first-period goal to Bob Errey that tied the score. From then on, Roy was in complete charge. The Penguins had 26 shots in the last 2 periods, but Roy turned them all aside.

Mats Naslund and Mike Keane each scored twice to enable the Canadiens to become the first team in the league to reach 35 victories. They also have the most points, 76.

Vancouver 6, Edmonton 2--Steve Bozek had two goals and rookie Trevor Linden had a goal and two assists as the Canucks won at home against the Oilers.

Bozek scored with bullet-like shots in the first and third periods as the Canucks beat the Oilers for the fourth time in five meetings this season between the Smythe Division rivals.

The Canucks held the Oilers to only four shots in each of the second and third periods and 19 overall.

Buffalo 5, Hartford 3--Mike Foligno scored 3 goals at Hartford as the Sabres beat the Whalers for the first time in five meetings this season.

The game was tied, 3-3, after two periods, but Dave Andreychuk took a pass from Pierre Turgeon and muscled the puck past Whaler goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz 6 minutes into the third period for his first game-winning goal of the season. Foligno completed his hat trick 6 minutes later.

The Sabres, who have come back strong after a slow start, are two games over .500 and have strengthened their hold on second place in the Adams Division.

St. Louis 5, Winnipeg 3--Doug Evans, better known as a defensive forward, turned on the offense at St. Louis to lead the Blues to victory.

Evans scored 2 goals, one on a penalty shot, for a career-high 6 this season.

The Jets’ Dale Hawerchuk threw his stick at the puck carrier, which is not allowed, so Evans got a penalty shot. Evans skated in, faked and fired. The puck hit the left post, then hit goaltender Daniel Berthiaume in the back and dropped into the net.

Evans scored both his goals in the first period and helped the Blues jump off to a 3-0 lead.