NHL ROUNDUP : LaFontaine Sidelined for Season

Buffalo Sabre center Pat LaFontaine, last year’s runner-up in NHL scoring, will undergo reconstructive knee surgery that will sideline him for the rest of the season.

“I definitely need surgery and most likely I’ll miss the rest of the season,” LaFontaine confirmed after Buffalo shut out Winnipeg, 6-0, Friday night at Buffalo to record its first home victory of the season.

LaFontaine said there is a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee. Sabre vice president Gerry Meehan said LaFontaine would take a few days off before deciding who will do the surgery and when it will be done.

LaFontaine said a third opinion given Friday afternoon by New York Giant team physician Russell Warren confirmed the tear first diagnosed by surgeons for the Sabres and New York Islanders.

LaFontaine first injured the knee in February, then re-injured it again in Buffalo’s first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins.

Doctors told him after the season that he could try to play on the knee but that there was a 50-50 chance that it might flare up again.

LaFontaine said the knee has bothered him throughout this season, in which he had five goals and 13 assists in 18 games. Last year, LaFontaine had 53 goals and 95 assists for 148 points in 84 games.

New York Rangers 5, Tampa Bay 3--The Rangers extended their unbeaten streak to 12 games as Esa Tikkanen and Adam Graves each scored twice at St. Petersburgh.

The Rangers, 10-0-2 in their last 12, extended their road winning streak to five, third best in club history. The loss was Tampa Bay’s 10th in its last 12.

Tikkanen scored the game-winner at 4:20 of the third on a slap shot.