HOCKEY STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Rangers Use Gartner’s Hat Trick to Make Islanders Disappear

Mike Gartner came out of his slump Friday night, and the New York Rangers became the first team in the Wales Conference to get to the second round of the Stanley Cup.

Gartner, a sharpshooting right wing, was scoreless in the first four games, then had a hat trick at Uniondale, N.Y., to lead the Rangers to a 6-5 victory over the New York Islanders.

The Rangers won the series, 4 games to 1.

His third goal was the clincher. The Islanders had battled back from a three-goal deficit to cut the lead to 5-4 on a goal by Randy Wood with 8:42 left. But on a power-play only 26 seconds later, Gartner scored the goal that won it.

The clincher came on the 50th anniversary of the last Stanley Cup championship the Rangers won, in 1940.

The Islanders, buoyed by the return of Pat LaFontaine and Jeff Norton from concussions suffered earlier in the bitterly-fought series, battled all the way.

LaFontaine set up Norton for the Islanders’ first goal, but after John Ogrodnick tied the score, 2-2, on a power play late in the third period, the Islanders were never in front again.

The Rangers will play the winner of the New Jersey-Washington series. The Capitals hold a 3-2 lead.

Washington 4, New Jersey 3--The Devils knew the way to beat the Capitals in Game 5 at East Rutherford, N.J., was to stop high-scoring Dino Ciccarelli.

So they hounded, checked and tackled the Capitals’ star most of the night. With these tactics, the Devils built a 2-1 lead after two periods.

But Ciccarelli broke free from the smothering defense to lead the Capitals, who now lead the best-of-seven series, 3-2.

Shortly after the faceoff to start the last period, Ciccarelli had an assist on Mike Ridley’s goal that tied it at 27 seconds.

The next time on the ice, Ciccarelli created his own scoring opportunity. He stole the puck just outside the Devils’ zone and worked hockey’s version of the give-and-go with teammate Kelly Miller. Miller gave the puck back to Ciccarelli, who swung at the airborne puck like a baseball hitter and swatted the puck into the net.

When Geoff Courtnall scored with three minutes left, it made the final New Jersey score just before the end meaningless.

The teams will play the sixth game Sunday at Landover, Md.

Boston 3, Hartford 2--The Bruins, still without injured defensive star Ray Bourque, won this game at Boston on a big play by Cam Neely.

Neely, while the Bruins were killing a penalty, intercepted goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz’s clearing pass and put a 25-foot blast into the net for a short-handed goal, and that was the difference.

Earlier, Brian Propp and Neely scored on power plays to give the Bruins seven in the series on 24 tries. The Whalers, who trail the series, 3-2, have only two power-play goals in 26 attempts.

The last period was a 20-minute roughhouse in which there were only nine shots on goal, five by the Whalers, who couldn’t get the tying shot past goalie Andy Moog.

Montreal 4, Buffalo 2--The Canadiens are playing better on the road than they are at home, so they lead the series, 3-2.

Scoring star Stephane Richer scored two more goals and the Canadiens improved their record at Buffalo in this series to 2-1. Richer has six goals in five games.

The Canadiens can clinch the best-of-seven series with a victory Sunday at Montreal.

Buffalo twice took one-goal leads. The second time, Rick Vaive’s goal made it 2-1 midway through the second period.

Bobby Smith tied the score at 17:13 of the period and a little over a minute later Richer’s second goal put Montreal ahead to stay.

The Sabres continued to battle for a tying goal, getting 12 shots on goal in the last period, but Russ Courtnall ended their hopes with an empty-net goal.