NHL ROUNDUP : Rookie Gives Flames Victory in Overtime

Tim Sweeney, playing in his first regular-season National Hockey League game, scored at 1:07 of overtime Thursday night to give the Calgary Flames a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in their season opener at Calgary.

The Flames’ Al MacInnis broke a 1-1 deadlock at 8:15 of the third period, only to have the Canucks’ Rob Murphy tie it again, forcing overtime.

Sergei Makarov scored the other goal for the Flames, and Jim Sandlak had one for the Canucks--both in the first period.

Calgary’s Mike Vernon, who faced 26 shots, had an acrobatic night, making several saves in the second period to prevent Vancouver from taking the lead.

Boston 4, Philadelphia 1--Andy Moog’s goaltending and first-period goals by Dave Poulin and Cam Neely carried the Bruins past the Flyers at Boston.

The Bruins are 5-0-1 in their last six openers.

Moog lost his bid for his 10th shutout with 4:09 left when Rick Tocchet knocked in a rebound from the slot.

Craig Janney made it 3-0 with 7:44 left and Boston’s Ray Bourque closed out the scoring into an empty-net with 57 seconds left.

Chicago 4, N.Y. Rangers 3--Dirk Graham scored two goals, and Ed Belfour stopped 27 shots as the Blackhawks defeated the Rangers at Chicago to win their first opener since 1986.

Chris Chelios, acquired from Montreal during the off-season, scored a third-period goal on a 45-foot slapshot at the 41-second mark and assisted on both of Graham’s goals.

It was the Rangers’ first loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago since Feb. 19, 1987.

Chicago had a 4-1 lead, but the Rangers made the game exciting when Bernie Nicholls scored his second goal of the night at 19:14 of the final period and Ray Sheppard scored with six seconds left.

Quebec 3, Hartford 3--Guy Lafleur, Joe Sakic and Mats Sundin scored in a 5-minute 36-second span of the second period, but the Nordiques had to settle for a tie at Hartford, Conn.

After the Whalers took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Kevin Dineen and Pat Verbeek, the Nordiques tied it in the first 2:11 of the second period on power-play goals by the 39-year-old Lafleur and Sakic.

Sundin, No. 1 pick in the 1989 draft, scored his first NHL goal to break the tie at 5:36 of the second period, but Todd Krygier got the Whalers even later in the period.

The Whalers had a man advantage for the final 1:37 of overtime, but Ron Francis hit the right post at 2:02, and Quebec goalie John Tanner stopped a shot by Kevin Dineen with 21 seconds left.

Detroit 3, New Jersey 3--Brendan Shanahan scored with 15 seconds left in regulation to give the Devils a tie with the Red Wings at East Rutherford, N.J.

New Jersey trailed, 3-1, but rallied in Bryan Murray’s debut as Red Wing coach and general manager. Claude Lemieux started the Devils’ comeback by scoring his second goal with 8:20 left.

Brent Fedyk and Sergei Fedorov put the Red Wings ahead, 3-1, with goals in the second period.

Marc Habscheid gave Detroit a 1-0 lead 3:55 into the game with a short-handed goal, but Lemieux tied it about six minutes later.

Montreal 3, Buffalo 3--Stephane Richer scored with 3:43 left to give the Canadiens a tie with the Sabres at Buffalo.

Buffalo took a 3-2 lead when Dale Hawerchuk fired a short shot past goalie Patrick Roy at 6:32 of the third period.

Alexander Mogilny and Dave Andreychuk scored for the Sabres, while Russ Courtnall and Brian Skrudland scored for Montreal.

Winnipeg 7, Toronto 1--Dave Ellett had two goals and an assist as the Jets routed the Maple Leafs at Winnipeg.

Jet rookie goalie Stephane Beauregard had 25 saves.

Dave Reid opened the scoring for Toronto, tipping a shot past Beauregard 1:48 into the first period, but Paul MacDermid evened the score 31 seconds later.

Dave McLlwain and Moe Mantha scored before the first period ended, Ellett scored twice in the second period and the rout was on.

St. Louis 3, Minnesota 2--Brett Hull, who led the NHL with 72 goals last season, scored twice, and the Blues downed the North Stars at Minnesota to spoil the debut of Coach Bob Gainey.

The score was tied, 1-1, but Hull scored with 3:37 left in the second period and made it 3-1 with an unassisted goal in the third period.

Dave Gagner’s power-play goal gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead in the first period.