STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP : New-Name Oilers Do the Job Against Canucks

Maybe the Edmonton Oilers’ current scoring line doesn’t rank with the one that won all those Stanley Cups. After all, there is no Wayne Gretzky, no Mark Messier, no Jari Kurri.

However, as the Oilers battle their way through the playoffs, everyone is learning that the new high-scoring unit isn’t too bad.

The line of Joe Murphy, Vincent Damphousse and Bernie Nicholls rallied the Oilers from a 2-0 deficit to a 4-3 overtime victory Sunday at Vancouver in the first game of the Smythe Division championship series.

Murphy, who assisted on two earlier goals, intercepted an break-out pass, raced into the Canucks’ zone and snapped a 20-footer over goaltender Kirk McLean for the winner at 8:36 of the extra session.

For the second consecutive series, the Canucks, winners of the division, started out behind.

To get through the first round, they had to win the last three games against Winnipeg after falling behind, 3-1. This loss costs them home-ice advantage again, and the Oilers can advance to the next series by winning their three home games.

The Canucks started where they left off against Winnipeg and had a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Then, after getting caught, the Canucks went ahead, 3-2, on Pavel Bure’s sixth playoff goal with 7:15 left in regulation.

Although the Oilers had been outplayed and outshot, goaltender Bill Ranford kept it close. Two minutes after the Canucks took the lead, Murphy set up Damphousse for the tying score.

Even after scoring the winning goal, Murphy wanted to talk about Ranford, who stopped 40 shots.

“He’s a big-time pressure player,” Murphy said of Ranford, who won the Conn Smythe trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs two years ago. “He’s the backbone of the team.

“He was unbelievable when we won the Cup in 1990. He’s giving us a chance to win it again.”

Boston 6, Montreal 4--Steve Leach scored twice at Montreal and the Bruins, taking advantage of an off-night for Montreal goalie Patrick Roy, won the Patrick Division opener.

Roy ran into problems from the outset.

Defenseman Gord Hynes scored on the Bruins’ first shot at 4:09 of the first period. Leach scored 16 seconds later.

The Canadiens fought back to tie, but when veteran wing Dave Poulin scored his first playoff goal on a power play halfway through the second period, Boston led for good.

The Canadiens, trailing, 5-3, after two periods, went to backup goalie Andre Racicot to start the third period. Roy came back less than a minute later.

Mike McPhee scored at 5:40 to cut the lead to a goal, but goalie Andy Moog held steady until defenseman Ray Bourque restored the Bruins’ two-goal lead with 74 seconds remaining.

Pittsburgh 4, New York Rangers 2--The Penguins made it a sweep for the visitors in the opening games of the second round.

Troy Loney and Larry Murphy scored goals 1:26 apart late in the first period at New York and the defending champions never let up.

The Penguins’ road success wasn’t surprising. After falling behind Washington, 3-1, in the first round, the Penguins had to win two of the last three on the road.

Mario Lemieux, who had 17 points in six games during the first round, had two assists.

Kevin Stevens, who plays alongside Lemieux, had a goal and two assists to pace the attack.

The Penguins also received another big game from goaltender Tom Barrasso.

When the Penguins fell behind in the Washington series, Barrasso appeared to be in a slump. However, he played well in the last three games against the Capitals and kept it up against the Rangers.

Until Stevens’ power-play goal gave the Penguins their third goal, the Rangers didn’t score.

The tiring Rangers had only four shots in the last 20 minutes.