NHL ROUNDUP : There’s No Place Like the Road for Capitals

The Hartford Whalers would rather play in Landover, Md.,these days. The Washington Capitals would rather play in Hartford, Conn. Maybe they should switch homes.

The Capitals and Whalers have poor records at home and winning records on the road.

They played Saturday night at Hartford and the Capitals, with Steve Leach and Dino Ciccarelli scoring goals less than 2 1/2 minutes apart in the second period, prevailed, 5-2.

The Whalers, with the best road record (10-5-0) in the NHL, fell to 6-12-1 at the Hartford Civic Center.

After falling at home Friday night to the New York Islanders, the Capitals were 4-7-2 at Capital Centre. This prompted defenseman Rod Langway to declare it was time for the Capitals to get out of town.

The victory improved the Capitals’ record to 13-15-4, meaning they are winners on the road (9-8-2).

“I would rather be at home,” Coach Bryan Murray of the Capitals said. “But we just aren’t playing well at home. I have no idea why. Tonight we came out ready to play. “

Buffalo 3, Boston 1--Add the Bruins to the list of good teams in the NHL that play better on the road.

With Clint Malarchuk stopping 28 shots and defenseman Phil Housley scoring on a breakaway to thwart a rally, the Bruins lost for the fourth consecutive time at Boston Garden.

Malarchuk, who had back-to-back shutouts against Boston early in his career, nearly had another. But Andy Brinkley scored with 11:39 remaining.

New York Islanders 4, New York Rangers 3--The Rangers have worse problems than the teams that can’t win at home. Lately, they can’t win anywhere.

Pat LaFontaine’s second goal of the game at 2:25 of the third period at Uniondale, N.Y., was the winner as the surging Islanders knocked the Rangers out of first place in the Patrick Division.

In their last four games the Rangers are 0-3-1.

It was the Islanders’ first victory over the Rangers in five games this season.

St. Louis 3, Edmonton 3--The Blues missed a victory at St. Louis when defenseman Paul Cavallini, trying to clear the puck, backhanded it into the Blues’ net.

Mark Messier, closest Oiler to the puck, was credited with his 20th goal. There were less than seven minutes to play when the fluke goal tied the score.

Calgary 4, Pittsburgh 3--The Flames, starting to play like Stanley Cup champions, fired 50 shots at goalie Tom Barrasso at Calgary.

Barrasso, playing only his second game after being sidelined for 21 games because of a broken hand, stopped 46 of them. Among the four he didn’t stop were two by Theoren Fleury in the second period.

Montreal 3, Detroit 1--Chris Chelios scored a goal and set up the other two at Montreal to help the Canadiens end a four-game winless streak.

Brian Skrudland, who scored two goals in the first game of the season for the Canadiens but then was sidelined for 21 games because of an ankle injury, returned and scored his third goal.

Chelios passed to Mats Naslund with 5:18 left in regulation for the tie-breaking goal, then scored himself 22 seconds later.

Minnesota 4, Toronto 3--Shane Churla scored his second goal of the season midway through the last period at Toronto as the North Stars ended an eight-game winless streak.

Churla, better known for his fighting ability than his scoring skills, ended Toronto’s four-game winning streak.