NHL ROUNDUP : Canucks Do Kings Favor, Knock Off Flames, 4-2

Trevor Linden had a goal and two assists Monday night as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2, at Vancouver.

The defeat leaves the Flames four points behind the Smythe Division-leading Kings.

Dan Quinn and Linden scored 48 seconds apart in the second period to break open a close game.

Igor Larionov also scored for the Canucks, who moved to within two points of the fourth-place Winnipeg Jets in the Smythe.

Theoren Fleury scored his 35th goal of the season for the Flames and Sergei Makarov added a late goal for Calgary.

Canuck goalie Troy Gamble left the game in the first period when he complained of being dizzy after he was hit in the head by a shot. Kirk McLean replaced Gamble and was sharp in the final two periods.

The Canucks fired 20 shots at Calgary goalie Mike Vernon. The Flames had 35 shots on goal--15 in each of the last two periods.

New Jersey 5, Washington 1--John MacLean had three goals and an assist as the Devils took control of the race for the final playoff spot in the Patrick Division by downing the Capitals at East Rutherford, N.J.

The Devils took a five-point lead over the Capitals with 16 games remaining for both teams.

John Morris and MacLean scored to give New Jersey a 2-0 lead in the first period.

MacLean stretched the lead to 3-0 at 7:31 of the second period, tipping Viacheslav Fetisov’s shot past goalie Jim Hrivnak with 28 seconds left on a five-minute penalty to Kent Paynter.

Washington scored its only goal, by John Druce, less than two minutes later, before the Capitals pulled away.

Laurie Boschman got his eighth goal of the season and a 4-1 lead with nine minutes left in the period, and MacLean scored with 5:04 left in the second period.

Detroit 5, Toronto 4--Yves Racine scored at 1:26 of overtime to give the Red Wings a victory over the Maple Leafs at Detroit.

Racine took a pass from Bob Probert and ripped a slap shot past Jeff Reese for the game-winning goal, negating Toronto’s comeback from a 4-2 deficit with less than nine minutes left in regulation.

Daniel Marois cut the Detroit lead to 4-3 with a power-play goal at 11:54 of the third period. After Detroit’s Brad McCrimmon was called for holding with 2:17 left, Vincent Damphousse’s goal tied the score with 1:05 to play.