NHL ROUNDUP : Flyers Relieved After Finally Getting First Win

The Philadelphia Flyers kept reminding themselves it was only the fifth game of the season. Still, there was a sense of urgency about their home game with the New Jersey Devils Sunday night.

For the first time in their 25-year history, the Flyers had failed to win in their first four games (0-3-1).

But the string ended when the Flyers recorded a 4-2 victory to hand the Devils their first defeat of the season.

Murray Craven, who has asked to be traded, scored a goal in each of the first two periods to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. Jiri Latal’s long slapshot increased the advantage to 3-0 at 15:15 of the second period.

New Jersey (4-1-0) closed to 3-1 on Kevin Todd’s goal with 14:58 left in the game. Philadelphia’s Rod Brind’Amour boosted the lead back to three goals before New Jersey’s Claude Lemieux closed out the scoring.

New Jersey, despite the 4-0 start, seemed to come out sluggish.

Craven gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead at 17:31 of the opening period when he took a wraparound pass from Dan Quinn and lifted the puck over fallen New Jersey goaltender Chris Terreri on the power play. The Flyers had been in a one-for-25 power-play slump before scoring with three seconds remaining on the man advantage.

Craven increased the lead to 2-0 at 12:40 of the second period when he deflected Brad Jones’ pass into the net.

Latal drilled a 35-foot slapshot through a screen past Terreri at 15:15 of the second period for a 3-0 Flyers’ lead.

Craven had a shot at a hat trick on a penalty shot, but the puck slid off his stick on a fake. Referee Kerry Fraser called the infraction because New Jersey defenseman Scott Stevens gloved the puck in the crease to stop a goal.

Vancouver 3, Buffalo 1--Gerald Diduck’s second goal of the season broke a 1-1 tie and lifted the Canucks to their second consecutive road victory and their fifth win in six games.

Trevor Linden beat Pierre Turgeon on a faceoff and drew the puck back to Diduck, who beat Daren Puppa on his stick side 8:14 into the third period.

Linden added an empty-net goal with 1:07 left in the game after Garry Valk fed him at the blue line.

The Sabres muffed two chances to go ahead early in the third period. Turgeon had the puck on a two-on-one but failed to see teammate Brad May, and Kirk McLean easily blocked his shot. A second two-on-one was wasted when Dale Hawerchuk’s pass to Donald Audette went astray.

The Sabres then sent out their enforcers, Rob Ray and Gord Donnelly. The move backfired when Donnelly promptly got into a fight with Dana Murzyn and was cited for high sticking, but Buffalo’s penalty-killing unit held off the Canucks.

The teams traded goals early in the second period. Rick Vaive, fresh off the Buffalo bench, charged toward the goal and tipped a pass from Turgeon past McLean’s glove side at 1:16.

N.Y. Islanders 1, Quebec 1--The Nordiques got a tie with the visiting Islanders when right wing Owen Nolan scored his fourth goal in two games.

Nolan, coming off a rookie season in which he scored only three goals in 59 games, has six goals in Quebec’s first five games. He was the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft in 1990.

His tying goal came only 37 seconds after New York’s Ken Baumgartner was assessed a holding penalty.

Chicago 7, San Jose 3--Mike Hudson and Jeremy Roenick scored short-handed goals 12 seconds apart at Chicago to equal a club mark during the Blackhawks’ victory over the Sharks.

The two short-handers within 12 seconds tied a Blackhawk record set by Troy Murray and Denis Savard against Toronto on Oct. 31, 1987.

Roenick also had another goal as the Blackhawks, who had the best record in the NHL last season, won their third game in a row after an 0-2-1 start.

Keith Brown’s 60-foot slapshot from the right point following a faceoff broke a 1-1 tie at 3:43 of the opening period.

Greg Gilbert made it 3-1 at 12:50 with a six-footer from out front and Roenick tapped in a rebound just to the right of Brian Hayward on a power play with 1:29 left in the first period, turning the game into a rout.