NHL ROUNDUP : Oilers Stop Both Former Coach and Sabres, 5-2

John Muckler contributed to several Stanley Cup championships as a coach with the Edmonton Oilers.

Muckler, who was an assistant for seven years and head coach for two years at Edmonton, joined the Buffalo Sabres as director of hockey operations last summer. He became coach of the Sabres in December after Rick Dudley was fired.

Muckler faced his former team for the first time Sunday night and he came out on the losing end as the Oilers defeated the Sabres, 5-2, at Edmonton.

Scott Mellanby of the Oilers reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in his seven-year career when he opened the scoring in the first period.

Luke Richardson, who assisted on Mellanby’s goal, scored late in the first period. Bernie Nicholls and Petr Klima put the Oilers ahead, 4-0, midway through the second period.

Buffalo beat goaltender Bill Ranford at 12:47 of the second period when Bob Corkum, recalled from the American Hockey League two weeks ago, scored during a scramble in front of the net.

N.Y. Rangers 2, Philadelphia 1--Tony Amonte scored his second goal with 38.6 seconds left in overtime to give the Rangers the victory at New York.

Mark Messier passed the puck from behind the Flyer goal line to Amonte, who banked a shot off rookie goaltender Dominic Roussel.

The loss extended the Flyers road drought against the Patrick Division to 14 games (0-12-2).

The last time Philadelphia beat a Patrick Division team on the road was exactly one year ago, a 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders.

Chicago 4, St. Louis 2--Michel Goulet scored twice during a span of 2:12 in the second period to help the Blackhawks overcome a 2-0 deficit en route to a victory at Chicago.

The victory moved the Blackhawks into a tie with the Blues for second place in the Norris Division.

Brett Hull gave the Blues a 1-0 lead in the first period when he scored his league-leading 58th goal, his 18th off the power play. Brendan Shanahan added a power-play goal in the second period.

Goulet scored at 6:21 off assists from Steve Larmer and Jeremy Roenick, who also assisted on Goulet’s goal at 8:33.

Roenick provided the go-ahead goal at 13:32 of the second period off assists from Chris Chelios and Brent Sutter.

Detroit 4, Hartford 0--Goaltender Tim Cheveldae stopped 24 shots at Hartford and posted his fourth career shutout as the Red Wings won their sixth consecutive game.

Cheveldae earned his league-leading 32nd win with his second shutout of the season. Steve Yzerman, Ray Sheppard, Kevin Miller and Steve Chiasson scored for the Red Wings (35-18-9), who moved 17 games over .500 for the first time since the 1969-70 season.

Quebec 3, Montreal 3--Claude Lapointe scored in the third period and Stephane Fiset made 41 saves to give the Nordiques the tie at Montreal.

It was only the eighth time this season the Nordiques haven’t lost on the road (0-23-8), and the second time in two weeks they’ve earned a tie at Montreal. The Canadiens are unbeaten in their last seven home games (5-0-2) and unbeaten in their last seven overall (4-0-3).

Vancouver 2, Boston 1--Pavel Bure took advantage of a sloppy Boston clearing pass, scoring 2:52 into overtime to give the Canucks a victory at Vancouver.

Canuck goalie Kirk McLean stopped 32 shots, 16 in the third period.

Washington 4, N.Y. Islanders 1--Peter Bondra scored two third-period goals at Uniondale, N.Y., to help the Capitals end the Islanders’ four-game winning streak.

Calgary 4, San Jose 2--Sergei Makarov and Gary Suter scored within a span of 38 seconds in the second period to lift the Flames to a victory at Daly City.