STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Roy Leaves Hospital and Leads Canadiens

Patrick Roy has beaten his illness, and the Montreal Canadiens are feeling a lot fitter in their bid to retain the NHL title.

Roy, Montreal’s goaltender, got out of a hospital bed Saturday morning and about 12 hours later stopped 39 shots as the Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins, 5-2, at Montreal to even their first-round playoff series at 2-2.

Roy was hospitalized for two days because of appendicitis, and there were fears he would require surgery, which would have finished him for this series. But the condition responded to antibiotics.

He skated onto the Montreal Forum ice to a standing ovation and stopped the first 12 shots he faced. He was at his best in power-play situations, stopping Boston cold on six opportunities.

“It’s funny, I felt like I didn’t even go the hospital,” Roy said. “Coach (Jacques) Demers gave me some days off during the season, and it paid off today. When I came back to play, even though I hadn’t skated for two or three days, it felt like I had never stopped playing.”

Kirk Muller scored twice and Paul DiPietro got another on power plays for Montreal as the Canadiens scored on three of their first five shots against Boston goalie Vincent Riendeau.

Guy Carbonneau’s second-period goal gave Montreal a 4-2 lead after Boston had cut the margin to one on goals by Adam Oates and Ted Donato.

Chicago 5, Toronto 4--Tony Amonte scored four goals at Chicago, tying a Blackhawk playoff record set by Denis Savard against Toronto in 1986 and cutting the Maple Leafs’ lead to 2-1 in the series.

Amonte scored twice in the first 2:07, doubling Chicago’s output from the first two games combined, and had one each in the second and third periods.

Amonte skated down the right side and beat Felix Potvin one on one at 1:31 of the final period to make the score 5-3.

Washington 4, Pittsburgh 1--Goalie Don Beaupre stopped all but one of the 22 shots he faced, and Joe Juneau and Dimitri Khristich each had a goal and an assist to help the Capitals to a commanding 3-1 series lead at Landover, Md.

The last time the teams met in the playoffs, the Penguins rallied from a 3-1 deficit and went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1992. Peter Bondra scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.

Mario Lemieux took only two shots in the first 40 minutes and the Penguins managed only seven shots in the final period. Pittsburgh’s lone goal came on a 55-foot slap shot by Martin Straka in the first period.

Buffalo 5, New Jersey 3--Wayne Presley and Yuri Khmylev each scored twice at Buffalo as this series finally showed some offense and evened up at 2-2.

The teams had managed only a combined eight goals in the first three games, with neither team managing more than two in any game.

John MacLean had a goal and two assists for the Devils.

San Jose 4, Detroit 3--Sergei Makarov scored the game-winner 6:35 into the third period at San Jose as the Sharks evened their series with the Red Wings at 2-2.

Detroit led 2-0 after the first period and 3-1 after Kris Draper’s goal at 6:08 of the second period.

But the Sharks got a goal from Igor Larionov less than two minutes later and tied the score when Ulf Dahlen scored a power-play goal at 11:55 of the second period.