NHL PLAYOFFS : While Montreal Sits, Former Canadiens Star

Montreal isn’t in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but several former Canadiens are, and nobody is happier about it than the Philadelphia Flyers.

On Monday, for the second day in a row, a defenseman the Flyers obtained in a deal with Montreal helped them beat the New York Rangers.

This time, it was Kevin Haller, whose 15-foot wrist shot 25 seconds into overtime gave the Flyers a 4-3 victory at Philadelphia and a 2-0 lead over the defending Stanley Cup champions in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.

On Sunday, Eric Desjardins’ goal at 7:03 of overtime gave Philadelphia a 5-4 victory.

Haller said the ice opened up in front of him as he watched Mikael Renberg carry the puck into the Ranger zone.

“If it’s open, you have to go,” he said. “And it was wide open. It surprised me.”

Renberg and Haller joined forces against defenseman Brian Leetch, who scored all three New York goals. Renberg passed to Haller, whose shot beat goalie Mike Richter high to the glove side.

“You don’t expect Haller to go top shelf like that, but it was a great shot and a great play by Renberg,” Leetch said.

Haller came to Philadelphia last June in a trade that sent Yves Racine to the Canadiens. Desjardins came to the Flyers in February along with John LeClair and Gilbert Dionne for Mark Recchi and a draft choice.

Leetch has scored four goals in the two games so far, assisted on another goal and has been on the ice for the Rangers’ two other goals of the series.

New Jersey 4, Pittsburgh 2--Scott Stevens’ backhander from the slot off his own rebound with 29 seconds to play and Claude Lemieux’s goal into an empty net with one second to play gave the Devils a victory at Pittsburgh and evened the series, 1-1.

New Jersey, 0-2-2 against the Penguins this season, outplayed Pittsburgh at both ends to seize home-ice advantage.

Lemieux scored twice. Jaromir Jagr scored twice, including a tying goal with 1:15 remaining.

“The guys were down after that goal,” Devil Coach Jacques Lemaire said. “Only a couple of guys said, ‘Hey, we worked hard and we only need one goal.’ ”

One of them was Stevens, who jumped on his own missed slap shot, took goaltender Ken Wregget off his skates by faking a shot from the lower left circle and flicked the puck into the net.

NHL Notes

A published report said the Jets will stay in Winnipeg, with construction on a 16,000-seat arena set to begin in a few weeks and be completed in time for the 1997 season. . . . Quebec Nordique President Marcel Aubut will meet Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau today in a last-ditch attempt to keep the franchise in the provincial capital. . . . Chicago’s Jeremy Roenick, sidelined since injuring his knee April 2, returns tonight against Vancouver.