NHL ROUNDUP : Bourque’s Goal Powers Bruins Past Canadiens

When Ray Bourque joined the Boston Bruins in 1979 at 18, he was expected to be the next Bobby Orr. It turned out to be only a slight exaggeration.

While Orr is recognized as the greatest defenseman ever, Bourque has been an outstanding player for a dozen seasons.

He has also led the Bruins to some terrific seasons. The one goal that has eluded him has been the Stanley Cup. In two of the past three years, the Bruins have made it to the final round, only to lose.

Once again Bourque is leading the Bruins toward the top. With the score 1-1 Sunday at Montreal, Bourque fired a low blast for his 11th goal, and the Bruins beat the Canadiens, 3-1.

Bourque was still on the ice after killing a penalty during which the Bruins were two men short for more than a minute. He took a pass from Dave Christian and scored from the top of the right circle. With only 11 seconds to play, Bourque set up rookie Ken Hodge for the final goal.

The victory slowed Montreal’s drive in the Adams Division. The Canadiens had won four in a row and a victory on home ice would have put them a point behind the Bruins. Mainly because of Bourque, the Canadiens are five points behind.

The other day Bourque passed Orr to take fourth place on the all-time Bruin point list.

“It’s not fair to compare us,” Bourque said. “I’ve played 12 years and been healthy most of the time. Bobby played 10 and was slowed by injuries much of the time.

“It would be scary to think if he had played 12 years without injury. He would have put up some kind of numbers.

“Some day I’ll enjoy looking back on what I did. But first I want to be on a Cup champion.”

It was the Bruins’ third victory in the past four days. Andy Moog, who has won 20 games, was in the nets for all three. He gave up three goals on 71 shots against Montreal. His counterpart, Patrick Roy, left the game after suffering a sprained left knee at 3:16 of the second period. He is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Boston Coach Mike Milbury, who derided his team early in the week for indifferent play, called it the biggest victory of the season.

“We would have been in trouble if we lost this one,” Milbury said. “We expect Raymond (Bourque) to come through in the clutch, and he always does.”

Calgary 5, Buffalo 4--The Flames finally put an end to their road slump.

Although they were playing their fourth game in six days, the Flames outlasted the Sabres at Buffalo.

Al MacInnis broke a 3-3 tie at 6:49 of the third period, and Doug Gilmore made it a two-goal lead less than two minutes later. The Sabres’ Alexander Mogilny scored a short-handed goal, his second goal of the period, with 9:38 left, but the Sabres couldn’t pull even.

The Flames, who fell out of first place in the Smythe Division because of failures on the road, had lost all three previous games on the trip. They had lost six in a row away from home.

The victory enabled the Flames to pull within four points of the first-place Kings. The Flames have 29 games remaining.

Edmonton 3, Winnipeg 2--As the Oilers and Jets were about to go into overtime for the third time this season, Kelly Buchberger woke up.

Buchberger, a wing noted for his defensive ability, scored with 1:40 left in regulation. In his 40th game, Buchberger scored his first goal of the season.

Buchberger converted a goal-mouth pass from Ken Linseman. Four minutes earlier, Linseman brought the Oilers even in the game at Winnipeg.

Washington 5, New York Islanders 4--One of the problems for the Capitals this season has been an inability to win after falling behind.

An exception has been their games against the Islanders.

In this game at Landover, Md., the Capitals made up a two-goal deficit in the third period. With 39 seconds to play in overtime, Kelly Miller scored his second goal of the game to win it.

Before this game, the Capitals were 1-18-1 when they trailed going into the last period. That victory was against the Islanders Dec. 1.