NHL ROUNDUP : For Flyers, Montreal Is a Great Place

Mark Freer and Rod Brind’Amour scored first-period goals and the Philadelphia Flyers continued their mastery over the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum with a 4-3 victory Wednesday night.

The Flyers have not lost in six games at Montreal since Nov. 7, 1987, and are 6-2-4 overall against the Canadiens in the last 12 times they have met.

Garry Galley and Mark Pederson also scored for Philadelphia (28-32-11). The Flyers are in the Patrick Division cellar, nine points behind Pittsburgh in a race for the final playoff spot. Each team has nine games remaining.

“They’ve all been big games for us,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s unfortunate that we can’t seem to gain any ground. We’re in the toughest division in the league. We’re winning, but it’s not getting us anywhere.”

New York Islanders 1, New York Rangers 1--Ranger goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck continued his hot hand with 35 saves in a tie at Madison Square Garden.

Vanbiesbrouck, who has stopped 191 of the last 196 shots he has faced, extended his unbeaten streak to seven (6-0-1) as the Rangers improved their NHL-best record to 95 points (45-23-5).

Vanbiesbrouck’s home record is now 15-3-3.

“The last time the puck looked this big,” he said, “I was nine years old, playing in the pee-wee championship game, I think.”

Sergie Nemchinov scored at 3:01 of the second period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The Islanders tied it on a goal by Joe Reekie at 2:58 of the third period.

Vancouver 3, Hartford 2--Pavel Bure and Tom Fergus scored power-play goals and Greg Adams got the winner at Vancouver as the Canucks broke a long-standing home ice slump against the Whalers.

The Canucks’ 40th victory and 90th point earned them a tie with Montreal for second place overall in the standings, five points behind the Rangers.