Sheppard Passes, Shoots Panthers Past Whalers, 3-2

Ray Sheppard had a goal and an assist in the second period to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 victory over the Hartford Whalers on Monday at Miami.

Martin Straka also had two assists for the Panthers, who snapped a four-game losing streak. John Vanbiesbrouck had 25 saves.

Sheppard and Straka combined to set up Robert Svehla, who beat Hartford goaltender Sean Burke 3:01 into the period to tie the game at 1-1. Scott Mellanby then gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 6:35 of the second.

Edmonton 6, Vancouver 2--The Oilers got two goals from Dean McAmmond and steady goaltending from Joaquin Gage in the victory at Vancouver.

The victory lifted Edmonton into ninth place in the Western Conference, a point ahead of the Ducks and two behind Winnipeg in the playoff race.

Todd Marchant, Jason Arnott, Boris Mironov and Mariusz Czerkawski also scored for the Oilers, who are 4-1-1 in their last six games.

Boston 1, Ottawa 1--The Bruins scored a lucky goal in the third period credited to Tim Sweeney and held on for the tie at Ottawa.

Ottawa rookie Daniel Alfredsson broke a scoreless tie at 2:21 of the third period. But 68 seconds later, Dave Archibald’s hard clearing attempt from the Ottawa goal mouth hit Sweeney’s shin pad and bounced straight back past Senator goalie Damian Rhodes.

Buffalo 6, Montreal 4--Pat LaFontaine scored two goals for the Sabres at Montreal.

Buffalo, which got goals from Brian Holzinger, Mike Wilson, Randy Burridge and Jason Dawe, had lost four of its last five games.

NHL Notes

Washington Capital left wing Keith Jones suffered a torn left groin muscle in Friday’s game against Ottawa and is expected to be out six weeks. . . The NHL announced a new scheduling format for the 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs, eliminating the possibility of teams playing back-to-back games.