NHL PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP : Sabres Maintain the Scoring Pace, Beat Canadiens

It was not so long ago that defenses took over in Stanley Cup action. No matter how good the offenses were during the regular season, playoff games were low-scoring affairs.

They are no longer--at least when the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres are involved.

The Sabres evened the best-of-seven series at two games apiece with a 6-4 victory Tuesday night at Buffalo. The teams are even all the way around, each having scored 20 goals.

When they met in the first round last spring, the Canadiens won in six games. There were only 30 goals scored in six games.

This year each team has averaged as many goals as the two teams averaged in 1990.

Six players scored for the Sabres, who fired 43 shots at two goaltenders, Patrick Roy and Andre Racicot. Racicot replaced Roy for 10 minutes after Roy gave up three goals on the first seven shots on goal.

The Sabres scored twice against Racicot in the first two minutes of the second period to take a 5-2 lead.

“The goaltending hasn’t been as it was a year ago,” Buffalo Coach Rick Dudley said. “But one of the reasons is that both No. 1 goalies have just recovered from injuries. Clint Malarchuk really came through in this one, but (Daren) Puppa is really not feeling well.”

Roy, who won the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender last season, suffered a severe ankle sprain in January and is still having trouble with it.

“It’s not the Roy we know,” Canadiens’ Coach Pat Burns said. “Shots are getting past him that wouldn’t if he was 100%.”

All four series in the Wales Conference are tied, 2-2.

New Jersey 4, Pittsburgh 1--Claude Lemieux and Peter Stastny scored 53 seconds apart in the first period at East Rutherford, N.J., and that was all Chris Terreri needed.

Terreri stopped 28 shots, losing his shutout after 44 minutes when Mario Lemieux scored his second playoff goal.

Mario Lemieux scored on a power play and the Penguins put heavy pressure on Terreri until John MacLean scored for the Devils with 3:16 remaining to seal the victory.

The Penguins had 15 of the first 20 shots in the third period.

Hartford 4, Boston 3--The Bruins, after winning two in a row, must have thought the series was over.

They weren’t ready at the start of Game 4 at Hartford, Conn. With Mark Hunter getting two goals, the Whalers scored four goals in the first 16 minutes.

The Bruins battled back, but couldn’t get even.

Washington 3, New York Rangers 2--The Capitals called on two defensive specialists, Dave Tippett and Alan May, for goals at Landover, Md., to even the series.

Bernie Nicholls gave New York an early lead, but Tippett, who had only six goals in 61 games during the regular season, set up the tying goal, then scored the go-ahead goal.

May got his first playoff goal midway through the final period.

RELATED STORY: Detroit’s Bob Probert has been suspended for Game 4 of the series against St. Louis. C10.