NHL ROUNDUP : Thomas’ Late Goal Lifts Blackhawks Over Oilers

In a meeting of the division leaders of the Campbell Conference, Steve Thomas took his best shot with 3 minutes 59 seconds remaining to give the Chicago Blackhawks to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night at Chicago.

Thomas, set up by Mike Eagles and Steve Konroyd, beat Bill Ranford to give the Blackhawks their second victory in three meetings with the Oilers this season.

Denis Savard, the Blackhawks’ leading scorer, broke a 1-1 tie with his 17th goal of the season at 3:01 of the final period. The Oilers countered with a goal by Steve Smith.

New York Rangers 2, Washington 1--The Rangers snapped an 11-game winless streak, their longest in 24 years, as John Ogrodnick and Jeff Bloemberg scored late in the second period at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers had been winless, with a 0-8-3 record, since a 5-3 victory over New Jersey on Dec. 6.

Capital left-wing Bob Joyce suffered a sprained right knee in a first-period collision with Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch.

Dino Ciccarelli scored his 20th goal to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 2:09 of the second period.

Winnipeg 4, Hartford 2--Winnipeg rookie goalie Bob Essensa stopped 25 shots, and the Jets held off a Whaler rally to win at Hartford.

Dave McLlwain, Teppo Numminen, Brent Ashton and Phil Sykes scored for the Jets, who moved three games over .500 for the first time this season. The loss dropped the Whalers back to .500.

Essensa shut out the Whalers until the final four minutes when Ray Ferraro and Pat Verbeek scored goals 39 seconds apart.

Toronto 5, Quebec 4--Mark Osborne’s goal with 39 seconds remaining gave the Maple Leafs a victory at home.

The Nordiques’ 7-26-6 record is the worst in the NHL.

Ed Olczyk, whose goal for the Maple Leafs extended his scoring streak to 16 games, sprained his left knee in the second period and did not return. Guy Lafleur’s goal for the Nordiques was the 545th of his career and moved him into eighth place on the all-time goals list.