NHL ROUNDUP : Ferraro Shows Why He’s an All-Star in Islander Win

Ray Ferraro of the New York Islanders and goaltender Tim Cheveldae of the Detroit Red Wings found out Tuesday night that they had been selected to play in the NHL All-Star game for the first time.

Then Ferraro went out and scored four goals off Cheveldae in leading the Islanders to a 5-2 victory at Detroit. It was the first four-goal game of his career.

“Making the All-Star game was, individually, one of the proudest moments of my career,” Ferraro said. “Things like this don’t happen very often.”

Also starring for the Islanders were goalie Steve Weeks, with 35 saves, and Benoit Hogue, with four assists.

“Their first two goals both bounced off us,” Cheveldae said. “We played well enough to win, but everything went wrong for us, and right for them.”

Ferraro made it a 4-2 lead at 11:17 of the third period off a pass from Hogue, then scored again 43 seconds later with a breakaway goal, his 24th of the year.

“On the breakaway, the puck hit me in the chest, and dropped right in front of me,” Ferraro said. “Any other night, I’m sure it would have gone to one side or the other, but when things are going well, they really go well.”

Both goalies sparkled in the scoreless second period. In one 30-second stretch, Weeks robbed Kevin Miller at point-blank range, and Cheveldae reached blindly behind his head to sweep Adam Creighton’s shot off the goal line.

The score was tied, 2-2, after two periods, but Bill Berg gave the Islanders the lead at 7:23 of the third, firing a slap shot through Ferraro’s screen.

Buffalo 5, Philadelphia 5--Pat LaFontaine’s goal with 48 seconds left in the third period lifted the Sabres into a tie at Philadelphia.

LaFontaine picked up a rebound of Dave Andreychuk’s shot and scored his 12th goal of the season. Despite a helmet designed to protect a facial injury from earlier this season, LaFontaine has three goals and three assists in three games.

Philadelphia Coach Bill Dineen was not satisfied. “I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “We outplayed them, we outworked them. We should have won.”

The Flyers have six ties in 15 games since Dineen became coach.

Vancouver 4, San Jose 1--Cliff Ronning had two goals and an assist and Kirk McLean made 26 saves to lead the Canucks, who improved to 6-1-4 in their last 11 games. The Sharks fell to 1-19-1 on the road.

Vancouver took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Ronning at 6:02 and Tom Fergus at 8:58.

After a scoreless second period, Ronning gave the Canucks a 3-0 advantage with his 17th goal just 23 seconds into the third and Geoff Courtnall scored 55 seconds later to make it 4-0.

The victory gave the first-place Canucks an 11-point lead over Winnipeg in the Smythe Division.

Minnesota 5, Washington 3--Dave Gagner’s second goal of the game, with 8:12 remaining, short-circuited the Capitals’ comeback at Landover, Md.

The Capitals, whose four-game unbeaten streak was snapped, trailed, 3-0, before Michal Pivonka and John Druce scored in the second period and Dimitri Khristich tied the score with 15:20 left by beating goalie Darcy Wakaluk with a penalty shot after a Minnesota player closed his hand on the puck in the crease.