NHL ROUNDUP : Nordiques Still Unbeaten Against Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens may have the best record in the Adams Division, but they are still only the second-best team in their province.

The Quebec Nordiques maintained dominance of their rivals Wednesday with a 5-1 victory over the Canadiens in Montreal.

The Nordiques, one of the NHL’s surprise successes, have won the first two games this season between the two teams, as well as both exhibition games. Montreal outshot Quebec, 36-31, but could not withstand two goals by Martin Rucinsky.

The Nordiques (17-10-6) moved into a tie with the Boston Bruins for second place in the Adams Division, two points behind Montreal (19-10-4). The Canadiens lost for only the third time in 17 home games.

“(Ron) Hextall played really good for us. That was the key,” said Mats Sundin, who had one goal and three assists.

Hextall, the Nordiques’ veteran goaltender, held off a fierce Montreal barrage early in the game.

Hartford 6, Washington 3--Though the Capitals came into the game at Hartford with a handful of impressive streaks, about the only streak that survived belonged to the Whalers. Terry Yake scored twice and four other Whalers scored as Hartford jumped to a 5-0 lead and eventually extended its home unbeaten streak to 3-0-1.

The loss ended the Capitals’ seven-game winning streak, their five-game road winning streak and the scoring streaks of Al Iafrate (10 games), Peter Bondra (eight), Mike Ridley (seven) and Pat Elynuik (six).

Edmonton 4, Vancouver 2--Shorthanded goals by Esa Tikkanen and Craig MacTavish against an inattentive Canuck defense led the Oilers at Edmonton.

The Canucks had surrendered only one shorthanded goal this season to lead the league. Their five-game unbeaten streak ended.

Tikkanen has three goals in his last four games after scoring only one in his first 30, but it was MacTavish’s goal at 17:01 of the first period that demoralized the Canucks. Kay Whitmore, Vancouver goalie, handed it to the Edmonton captain when he casually went behind the net to corral the puck on a Vancouver power play.

Tampa Bay 5, San Jose 4--John Tucker scored his sixth goal of the season 2:53 into overtime, capping a three-goal comeback for the Lightning at San Jose. The Sharks led, 3-0, during the first minute of the third period, but goals by Marc Bureau, Tucker and Brian Bradley within the next five minutes tied the score, 3-3.