NHL ROUNDUP : Record Crowd Sees Panthers Win, 2-0

An NHL record crowd of 27,227 at St. Petersburg, Fla., watched Florida Panther goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck stop all 36 Tampa Bay shots Saturday night in a 2-0 victory that spoiled the Lightning’s home opener at the Suncoast Dome.

The victory was the first for the expansion Panthers (1-1-1).

The shutout was the 19th in an 11-year career for Vanbiesbrouck (1-0-1), who was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in the 1993 expansion draft.

Scott Levins scored what proved to be the game-winner at 2:19 of the second period on a deflection. Defenseman Brent Severyn wristed a shot on net from the left point that deflected in off Levins, who was camped in front of goaltender Daren Puppa.

Tampa Bay acquired Denis Savard, Gerard Gallant and Petr Klima during the off-season to help its stagnant offense, but they weren’t enough to help the Lightning solve Vanbiesbrouck despite a 36-22 advantage in shots.

Philadelphia 5, Hartford 2--Josef Beranek and Kevin Dineen each scored two goals in a five-goal first period for the Flyers at Hartford, Conn. Beranek, second in exhibition scoring for the Flyers, and Dineen added an assist each. Eric Lindros got the other goal. Dominic Roussel had 26 saves and an assist. The Whalers are 0-5-2 in home openers the last seven years.

Pittsburgh 3, New York Rangers 2--Martin Straka scored his second goal of the game with six minutes left in the third period for the Penguins at Pittsburgh. Straka scored on a power play as the Penguins won their 12th consecutive regular-season home game. Straka scored the only goal of the second period at 3:40 to give the Penguins a 2-2 tie.

Mark Messier and Mike Gartner scored first-period goals for the Rangers, and Doug Brown had a goal for the Penguins.

New Jersey 6, Washington 4--Corey Millen and Claude Lemieux each scored two goals at East Rutherford, N.J., to help the Devils stretch their season-opening winning streak to three.

The victory gave the Devils a sweep of the weekend home-and-home series with the Capitals after their 6-3 victory in Landover, Md., Friday night. The Capitals have lost three straight to open their season and have given up 18 goals, six in each defeat.

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Millen and Bobby Holik.

Boston 7, Quebec 3--Adam Oates scored two of his three goals on power plays during a five-goal first period for the Bruins at Boston. Oates scored again in the third period to complete the fourth regular-season hat trick of his nine-year NHL career. He has four goals and nine points in three games this season.

Joe Juneau assisted on all three goals by Oates, and Oates set him up for a power-play goal in the opening period. Juneau has eight points.

Toronto 2, Chicago 1--Wendel Clark scored the winning goal at 10:49 of the third period at Toronto. Clark’s second goal spoiled a superb effort by goaltender Ed Belfour, who matched up well against Toronto counterpart Felix Potvin.

Belfour stopped 25 shots and Potvin turned aside 30.

Calgary 5, Vancouver 1--Goaltender Trevor Kidd made his first start since March, 1992 and stopped 25 shots at Vancouver for the Flames in the first matchup of the new season between the Pacific Division rivals.

Winnipeg 3, Dallas 3--Mike Modano’s power-play goal with 8:26 left in regulation completed a Dallas comeback from a two-goal deficit at Dallas. Modano blasted a 25-foot slap shot past Winnipeg goaltender Bob Essensa on a power play.

Montreal 7, Buffalo 4--Brian Bellows, Mathieu Schneider and Benoit Brunet scored in a 2:11 span of the third period at Montreal.

Buffalo goaltender Grant Fuhr was ejected with 1:22 to play when he skated the length of the ice to pull Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy out of a brawl.

St. Louis 7, Ottawa 5--Brendan Shanahan, Jeff Brown and Kevin Miller had two goals apiece at St. Louis as the Blues started 2-0 for the first time in 11 seasons. Brown scored the game-winner at 13:47 of the third period after Senator rookie Alexandre Daigle tied the score with 16:16 left in the game. Shanahan has five goals.