NHL ROUNDUP : Whalers Beat Bruins on Francis’ Late Goal

The Hartford Whalers’ inability to win at home has kept them from challenging for first place in the Adams Division.

When Ron Francis scored on a deflection with only 25 seconds left in regulation, the Whalers picked up a rare victory at Hartford, Conn.

The high-scoring center’s goal beat the slumping Boston Bruins, 4-3, and put the Whalers over .500 (18-17-1).

The Whalers, the best road team in the NHL, had won only six of 18 games at home before beating the Bruins, who are 1-6-1 in their last eight games.

Boston Coach Mike Milbury, who can’t explain his team’s slump, said he knew what was going to happen when the Bruins failed to clear the puck.

“(Goaltender) Andy Moog had no chance whatsoever,” Milbury said. “That was an awful fluke goal but seems to happen to a team that’s struggling. We will come out of it.”

Francis admitted his 17th goal was a fluke.

“I just crash the net and hope for something to happen on a play like that,” he said. “That’s all you can do. Fortunately, I got my stick on the shot and it went in.”

The Whalers, playing mostly on the road, are 7-3 in December.

A goal by Randy Burridge with 7:01 remaining, enabled the Bruins to tie it.

New York Rangers 2, Buffalo 2--It was only a tie, but after outplaying the team with the best record in the NHL, the Rangers think their slump might be over.

The Rangers outshot the Sabres, 43-30, but Alexander Mogilny scored early in the third period to get Buffalo the tie at New York.

The Rangers are winless in their last six games (0-4-2). They ended their string of failures on power-play opportunities at 33.

Detroit 4, Toronto 2--The Red Wings haven’t had much success with their once high-powered offense, so they are doing it with defense.

Goaltender Glen Hanlon stopped 26 shots at Detroit and Joe Kocur snapped a 1-1 tie with a second-period goal.

The defense has been largely responsible for the Red Wings posting a 5-2-2 record for the last nine games.

“I think we know we can’t win 9-8 games,” said Shawn Burr, who had a goal and an assist. “When we get in that kind of game, we get one, the other team gets nine.”

Chicago 9, St. Louis 6--Defense was missing at Chicago.

Brett Hull, the NHL’s top goal scorer, had a hat trick and the Blackhawks, scoring four goals in less than two minutes in the third period, increased their lead in the Norris Division to six points.

The Blues led, 6-5, after Jeff Brown scored with 8:35 left in the game. But Dirk Graham tied the game 28 seconds later to start the four-goal barrage.

Jeremy Roenick put the Blackhawks ahead to stay just 23 seconds after the tie.

Calgary 2, Vancouver 1--The Flames swept the back-to-back games by the same score, but it wasn’t easy.

Jamie Macoun scored with 14 seconds left in overtime at Calgary to give the Flames their fourth win in a row and move them into a tie with Edmonton for first place in the Smythe Division.