NHL ROUNDUP : Craven Leads Spirited Flyers Past Canadiens

One of the big stories in the NHL this season is the play of the Philadelphia Flyers, despite injuries to key players and the suspension of standout goaltender Ron Hextall.

Hextall, suspended for the first 12 games, has missed all but two others because of injuries. Tim Kerr, their top scorer, and Brian Propp, their top playmaker, have recently undergone surgery.

The Flyers haven’t lost their spirit, however. Murray Craven had two goals and two assists Wednesday night at Philadelphia as the Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1.

The Flyers welcomed back right wing Scott Mellanby, who played his first game after undergoing surgery on his left forearm, which he severely damaged in a barroom fight during the off-season. Mellanby had an assist.

The Flyers started fast. They outshot the Canadiens, 9-2, in the first period, and built a 2-0 lead on goals by Rick Tocchet and Craven.

Backup goaltender Ken Wregget made the lead stand up, although he faced seven shots in the first six minutes of the second period.

“Craven has been our most consistent forward all season,” Flyer Coach Paul Holmgren said. “He sucked it up a lot when we lost Tocchet and (Ron) Sutter. Now that they are back, the line is flying.”

Montreal Coach Pat Burns was so disturbed by the Canadiens’ poor performance, he never emerged from the dressing room to answer reporters’ questions.

Buffalo 4, New York 1--The Sabres scored three times before the game was 13 minutes old to remain the only team in the NHL unbeaten at home.

Christian Ruuttu, Pierre Turgeon and Scott Arniel had early goals and Daren Puppa made 27 saves to run the Sabres’ record to 9-0-1 on their home ice.

Puppa improved his record to 9-2-4. He lost his shutout early in the third period when rookie Darren Turcotte scored his 13th goal.

The Sabres (13-5-4) moved into a tie for first place in the Adams Division with Montreal, which has played four more games.

Washington 5, New York Islanders 3--In the first quarter of the season, the Capitals played pretty well but had trouble scoring.

With Mike Ridley and Dino Ciccarelli leading the way at Landover, Md., the Capitals ended a four-game winless streak and displayed an offense.

Ridley had two goals, and Ciccarelli, not known as a playmaker, assisted on three goals. The Capitals outshot the Islanders, 16-4, in the first period and built a 2-0 lead.

New Jersey 6, Pittsburgh 3--Bruce Driver set up four goals to lead the Devils to victory at Pittsburgh.

The Devils, in ending a four-game winless streak, stopped the Penguins’ three-game win streak. In the last three games, Driver has a goal and eight assists.

Mario Lemieux assisted on all three Pittsburgh goals to extend his scoring streak to 10 games.

Quebec 4, Hartford 2--The Whalers know they have a problem on home ice when they can’t beat the struggling Nordiques.

Defenseman Jeff Brown broke a 2-2 tie with a 55-foot shot on a power play with 4:42 left to give the Nordiques just their sixth win in 23 games.

The Whalers have lost four in a row at Hartford and are 4-8-1 at home this season.

Minnesota 6, Toronto 3--After going scoreless for the first 21 minutes at Bloomington, Minn., the North Stars got offensive.

They scored all six of their goals in the next 26 minutes. Mike Gartner scored two and has 14 this season.

The North Stars took 54 shots at Toronto goalie Mark LaForest, who stopped the first 27.