NHL ROUNDUP : Billington Older, Wiser, Winner for Devils

According to his coach, Tom McVie, it is not surprising that goaltender Craig Billington is playing so well for the New Jersey Devils.

Billington turned in another sharp performance Saturday night at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Devils beat the New York Rangers, 6-4.

Billington, who stopped 23 shots, improved his record to 9-1-1, and the Devils continued to be the best fourth-place team in hockey.

Peter Stastny and Valeri Zelepukin provided the offense.

Stastny had two goals and an assist and Zelepukin had his third goal and three assists.

McVie gave Billington a chance in camp after the Devils gave up on him three years ago. Last season, he was with the Canadian National team. Now he’s No. 1 on the team with the seventh-best record in the NHL.

“When he was 18,” McVie said, “he was the best goalie in Canada. The Devils gave him too much too quick. They threw him in there too soon and he was beaten down.

“I had him in the minors, and I realized he was ready.”

Minnesota 4, Vancouver 3--Mike Modano scored with less than four minutes to play at Bloomington, Minn., and the North Stars stopped the Canucks’ unbeaten string at nine games.

Pittsburgh 3, Winnipeg 2--The Penguins were missing two of their big guns, Mario Lemieux and Paul Coffey, but defenseman Larry Murphy took charge at Pittsburgh.

Murphy scored twice and helped provide stout defense in front of Tom Barrasso, who stopped 31 shots.

Lemieux has back spasms, and Coffey has flu.

Edmonton 3, Calgary 2--It doesn’t appear that any team is ready to break out of the pack in the Smythe Division and take after Vancouver.

Scott Mellanby scored his 13th goal and had an assist at Calgary, and Edmonton jumped ahead of the Flames in the three-way fight for second place.

Boston 4, Buffalo 2--Injuries to Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin forced the Bruins to turn to No. 3 goalie Matt DelGuidice at Boston.

The youngster responded with 38 saves, while defenseman Ray Bourque, in addition to providing stellar defense, had a goal and an assist.

Washington 2, Hartford 2--Dale Hunter and Dino Ciccarelli scored goals in the first 101 seconds of the third period at Hartford, but the Capitals settled for a tie.

Murray Craven tied the game before the period was five minutes old and that was the end of the scoring.

New York Islanders 5, Quebec 2--Ray Ferraro scored his 20th goal and had an assist as the Islanders made sure they weren’t the first team to lose at home to the Nordiques.

With this game the Nordiques, the only team that hasn’t won on the road, are 0-15-4 away from Quebec City.

Detroit 6, St. Louis 2--Brett Hull scored his 39th goal in his 39th game, but the hot Red Wings provided most of the offense at St. Louis.

Detroit, in stretching its lead in the Norris Division to 11 points over the Blues, is 19-3-3 in its last 25 games.

Chicago 4, Toronto 2--Jeremy Roenick had a goal and two assists at Toronto and the Blackhawks ended a five-game (0-4-1) winless streak at Toronto.

It was only the fourth road victory in 20 games for the Blackhawks, and it was the fifth consecutive loss for the Maple Leafs.

Montreal 1, San Jose 0--Guy Carbonneau scored one minute into overtime to lift the Canadiens in a meeting of the teams with the NHL’s best and worst records.

Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy made 25 saves for his fourth shutout of the season in a game that was delayed 55 minutes by an ice problem.

The Adams Division-leading Canadiens improved to 27-14-2. The Sharks, last in the Smythe, are 9-29-3.