NHL ROUNDUP : Dineen Starts Career as Coach of Flyers With Loss to Capitals

It didn’t seem right that Bill Dineen, the new coach of the Philadelphia Flyers should have to make his debut against the best team in the division and maybe the best in the NHL.

But he did, and the results were predictable Thursday night at Philadelphia.

Randy Burridge had two goals and two assists, and the Washington Capitals extended the Flyers’ winless streak to eight games with a 6-3 victory. With the defeat, the Flyers trail Washington in the tough Patrick Division by 20 points.

The Capitals (19-8-0) are tied with Montreal for the most points in the league (38), but the Canadiens have played three more games than the Capitals.

Dineen, whose son Kevin plays on the Flyers, succeeded Paul Holmgren. In their worst start since their expansion years, the Flyers were 8-14-2 under Holmgren.

“We certainly have a lot of work to be done defensively in our own end,” Dineen said after the Flyers lost their fifth in a row. “I felt comfortable, not nervous or anything. We’ve got to start working in our own end. That’s No. 1 priority.”

Montreal 5, New York Islanders 4--Before winning after four consecutive defeats, the Canadiens blew a three-goal lead at Uniondale, N.Y., then won on a giveaway in overtime.

The Islanders came back from being behind, 4-1, in the third period. They scored three times in 92 seconds, beginning with Adam Creighton’s goal at 5:30 of the final period.

The Canadiens had not scored for 23 minutes, including half of the overtime, when Richard Pilon made a careless clearing pass for the Islanders.

Sylvain Turgeon, who had not scored in the past 11 games, slipped in front of the pass and fired the puck past Glenn Healy for the game-winner at 2:52.

New Jersey 6, Calgary 3--Unless things start getting better in a hurry, the Flames appear to be in for a rugged trip.

They followed a 5-2 defeat in Detroit with this battering from the improving Devils at East Rutherford, N.J.

The Flames, expected to be one of the top teams in the Smythe Division, have won only two of their last 10 games and trail division-leading Vancouver by 11 points.

The Devils scored four times in the last period, with Claude Vilgrain putting them ahead to stay 4:03 into the period. New Jersey is 4-1-1 in their last six games.

Boston 2, Quebec 2--Goaltender Andy Moog of the Bruins couldn’t handle Joe Sakic at Boston and had to settle for a tie.

Sakic, the Nordiques’ leading scorer, scored early in the second period and halfway through the third to get the Nordiques the tie.

Sakic has 14 goals and 25 assists for the Nordiques.

Pittsburgh 8, San Jose 0--Mario Lemieux had his biggest game of the season, getting two goals and four assists to halt San Jose’s unbeaten streak at three. The league’s top scorer, Kevin Stevens had three goals.