NHL ROUNDUP : Melanson Records Back-to-Back Shutouts

The Montreal Canadiens acquired goaltender Roland Melanson last month in a trade with the New Jersey Devils that is already paying dividends for the Canadiens.

Melanson had 21 saves Thursday night as the Canadiens defeated the Quebec Nordiques, 5-0, at Quebec.

It was the second consecutive shutout for Melanson, who was traded to the Canadiens for Stephane Richer.

Melanson, who played for the Kings from 1985-89, has a shutout string of 150 minutes 12 seconds. After replacing the injured Patrick Roy in the first period of a game Oct. 16, Melanson, in his first starting assignment in three years, shut out the Philadelphia Flyers last Saturday.

“When the guys in front of you are working as hard as they are, that’s why you get this kind of result,” said Melanson, who is in his 11th NHL season but was in the minors for most of the last three.

“It’s just a great feeling to get an opportunity in the NHL again,” he said. “I never gave up when I was in the minors, and when you don’t give up, you never know what can happen.”

Guy Carbonneau had two goals and an assist for the Canadiens, who beat the Nordiques for the second time in as many nights and extended Quebec’s winless streak to eight games.

Vancouver 3, Washington 1--In an early showdown of NHL leaders, Kirk McLean turned aside 28 shots to lead the Canucks at Vancouver.

The Canucks (8-1-1) regained first place in the overall standings ahead of the Capitals (8-2-0).

Geoff Courtnall, Trevor Linden and Greg Adams had goals for the Canucks.

New Jersey 4, Pittsburgh 2--Paul Coffey of the Penguins tied Denis Potvin’s career record for goals by a defenseman, but the performance came in a loss at Pittsburgh.

Peter Stastny scored one goal and set up another to lead the Devils.

Coffey scored his 310th goal at 5:42 of the first period on the Penguins’ first power-play. Potvin set the goal record in 1,060 games with the New York Islanders from 1973 to 1988. Thursday night’s game was Coffey’s 818th in the NHL.

Philadelphia 5, Minnesota 2--Kimbi Daniels of the Flyers scored his first NHL goal to overshadow the 400th and 401st of Brian Propp’s career in the Flyers’ victory at Bloomington, Minn.

Daniels’ goal broke a 2-2 tie 6:12 into the third period to give the Flyers their first road victory.

Propp became the 35th player in NHL history to reach the 400-goal mark with a power-play goal 6:46 into the game.

St. Louis 6, Boston 5--Brett Hull got his second goal of the game at 12:21 of the third period as the Blues blew a four-goal lead and then rallied for the victory at St. Louis.

Hull’s first goal at 7:07 of the second period put the Blues ahead, 4-0. The Bruins then scored five consecutive goals.

Adam Oates scored on a backhander at 3:24 to tie the score and he assisted on Hull’s game-winner.

Calgary 5, Chicago 2--Theoren Fleury scored twice and Gary Suter had three assists at Chicago to lead the Flames.