NHL ROUNDUP : Milbury Wins New Job Title but Loses to Hot Panthers

The Florida Panthers show no signs of slipping off their perch as the best team in hockey, while the New York Islanders begin anew with Coach Mike Milbury adding duties as general manager.

The Panthers stalked the New York Islanders in a 3-1 victory Tuesday night at Uniondale, N.Y., giving them the NHL’s best record of 22-7-2.

Milbury, meanwhile, vowed to have the simmering Kirk Muller affair settled by the weekend.

Milbury succeeds Don Maloney, who was fired Dec. 2. Maloney traded for Muller last April 5 but the center was unhappy with the Islanders and finally was banished from the team last month.

“Kirk Muller will either be back here on Saturday or be traded by then,” Milbury said.

San Jose 2, Ottawa 1--Tom Pederson’s first goal of the season--with 2:26 left in the game and 11 seconds remaining on a power play--lifted the Sharks to a victory over the Senators in a matchup of the teams with the two worst records in the NHL.

Montreal 6, Winnipeg 5--The Canadiens scored five goals in the second period of a victory over Winnipeg on a day when it was announced the Jets are leaving Canada.

The prospective new owners of the Jets signed a binding letter of intent to move the NHL franchise to Phoenix for the 1996-97 season.

Ironically, the loss to Montreal was before 14,321, the Jets’ biggest home crowd of the season.

Detroit 5, St. Louis 2--Vyacheslav Kozlov scored two goals and Mike Vernon made 31 saves to lead the Red Wings to a victory over the Blues in Detroit.

NHL Note

The Mighty Ducks promoted David McNab to assistant general manager from director of player personnel. He replaces Pierre Gauthier, who resigned.