NHL ROUNDUP : Canadien Goalie Given a Baptism Under Fire

The Montreal Canadiens figured that Toronto would be a good place to give goaltender Andre Racicot his baptism in the NHL.

Racicot, brought up from the American Hockey League a week ago, apparently wasn’t ready.

He failed to stop the first two Maple Leaf shots and trailed, 3-0, when he was removed before the game was 13 minutes old.

In less than a minute, the Maple Leafs scored against his replacement, Patrick Roy, and went on to a 7-4 victory.

Tom Fergus beat Racicot with a backhander 39 seconds after the opening faceoff. At 2:09 Ed Olczyk scored the first of his three goals. After Wendel Clark scored at 12:40, Racicot was pulled.

It was only the 14th victory in 31 games for the Maple Leafs, who are next-to-last in the Norris Division.

New York Islanders 0, New York Rangers 0--Former King goalie Mark Fitzpatrick posted his third shutout in the last two weeks in this game at Uniondale, N.Y.

But this time the Islanders didn’t score either, and the rivals played to the first scoreless tie of the season.

The Rangers’ John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 26 shots. Fitzpatrick, who went to the Islanders in the trade that sent Kelly Hrudey to the Kings, stopped 33.

The Islanders are 4-0-1 in their last five games.

Washington 7, Boston 3--The Capitals have struggled all season because of a weak offense that has produced slightly more than three goals a game.

But they scored seven goals in the first 47 minutes at Boston against one of the better defensive teams.

Dino Ciccarelli, one of the Capitals’ few consistent scorers, had two goals. The Capitals scored three times in the first period and maintained the lead the rest of the way.

The fast start helped Capital goalie Don Beaupre, who had missed five games because of a groin injury. Beaupre stopped 33 shots.

“I can’t explain the offensive display,” Coach Bryan Murray said. “We just took advantage of our chances. I’ve been complaining about not shooting when we had the shots.”

The Bruins have lost their last two games at home.

Quebec 6, Philadelphia 6--The Flyers wasted a two-goal lead with 23 seconds left in regulation at Quebec.

The Nordiques’ Joe Sakic scored on a penalty shot to make the score 6-5, and with seven seconds remaining, Lucien DeBlois scored the tying goal.

The Nordiques were awarded the penalty shot because Flyer goaltender Ken Wregget deliberately lifted the net off its moorings.

Coach Michel Bergeron said he selected Sakic for the penalty shot because he had been the best player on the ice throughout the game.

Chicago 6, Pittsburgh 4--The Penguins’ new coach, Craig Patrick, didn’t expect to win them all, but after rallying from a 3-0 deficit at Pittsburgh he anticipated his third victory in a row.

Instead, Chicago’s Doug Wilson broke a 4-4 tie with his 12th goal of the season late in the second period and Steve Thomas finished the scoring on an empty-net goal in the closing seconds.

Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux scored his 19th goal of the season and extended his point-scoring streak to 18 games. But the Penguins’ three-game winning streak ended.

Detroit 3, Minnesota 1--Slowly, the Red Wings are beginning to live up to expectations.

Steve Yzerman tipped in the tiebreaking goal with 8:41 left at Bloomington, Minn., to give the Red Wings their second consecutive victory over the North Stars, knocking Minnesota out of first place in the Norris Division.

It was the 18th goal of the season for Yzerman.

St. Louis 6, Vancouver 4--The Blues scored three goals in less than three minutes in the first period at St. Louis and the Canucks couldn’t catch up.

The victory enabled the Blues to take over first place in the Norris Division.

Hartford 7, New Jersey 3--Ray Ferraro scored three goals and Kevin Dineen scored two in a six-goal first period that put an end to the Whalers’ home-ice problems.