NHL ROUNDUP : Sabres Winners With LaFontaine

When John Muckler replaced Rick Dudley as coach of the Buffalo Sabres in mid-December, he started out with a bit of a handicap. The cornerstone of his team--Pat LaFontaine--was sidelined because of a broken jaw.

Muckler’s job has gotten easier now that LaFontaine is back. Although he has to wear a mask, LaFontaine, in his ninth NHL season at 26, is leading the surge of the Sabres. He had three goals Saturday at Montreal, and the Sabres, despite playing short-handed for the last 4 1/2 minutes, held on to win, 4-3.

The Sabres are 9-5-2 since LaFontaine’s return. He has 20 goals and 14 assists in those games.

“We play a skating system here, and it’s coming together,” LaFontaine said. “It’s similar to Edmonton. It’s freewheeling. It took us three weeks to get used to it, and now we’re getting better at it.”

In their last two games, the Sabres have beaten the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the team with the NHL’s best record, the Canadiens.

Pittsburgh 5, New York Islanders 3--Mario Lemieux scored on a two-on-one break with 56 seconds left in regulation to cap a third-period rally at Uniondale, N.Y.

The Islanders took a 3-2 lead in two periods, but Jaromir Jagr tied the score before the final period was a minute old. Jagr also came in with Lemieux on the winning goal. Quebec 2, Winnipeg 1--The Nordiques took a 2-0 lead on goals by Owen Nolan and Greg Paslawski at Quebec and held on to end an eight-game losing streak.

Paslawski’s goal was his third in four games and 16th of the season.

Chicago 2, Minnesota 0--For more than a year, the Blackhawks had been unable to win at Bloomington, Minn. They were 0-5-1, and in most of those games they lost their cool and suffered several penalties.

In this game they stayed calm, played tough defense and goaltender Ed Belfour needed to make only 16 saves for his fourth shutout this season.

Boston 4, Hartford 4--Bobby Carpenter scored with 65 seconds left in regulation to get the Bruins the tie.

The Bruins are 10-0-2 against the Whalers in the last 12 meetings.

Detroit 7, New Jersey 0--Tim Cheveldae stopped 21 shots at East Rutherford, N.J., to post his first shutout and his NHL-leading 26th victory. He has sat out only one of the Red Wings’ 48 games.

The Devils were 6-1-1 in their previous eight games.

Vancouver 1, St. Louis 0--Goaltender Kirk McLean shut down high-scoring Brett Hull and the rest of the Blues at St. Louis.

He became a winner when Tom Fergus scored at 2:12 of overtime.

Toronto 6, Philadelphia 4--The Flyers were hoping to end a four-game winless slump at Toronto. Instead, the Maple Leafs scored three times before the game was 10 minutes old and the Flyers never caught up.

San Jose 5, Edmonton 2--The Sharks took a 3-0 lead at Daly City, and with Brian Millen and Mike Sullivan each getting a goal and an assist, they beat the Oilers.