Canadiens Are Still Hot, While Lightning Is Not

Mark Recchi scored two goals as the torrid Montreal Canadiens extended the Tampa Bay Lightning’s winless streak to 16 games with a 4-1 victory Monday night at Montreal.

The loss--Tampa Bay’s 10th in a row--spoiled the return to Montreal of popular former Canadien coach Jacques Demers, who dropped to 0-3 since replacing Terry Crisp and interim Rick Paterson.

Demers was working as a pro scout for Montreal before he took over in Tampa Bay. His winless run as a coach reached 12 games (0-10-2), with nine consecutive losses--including the end of the 1994-95 campaign and the start of the following season with Montreal.

St. Louis 3, Toronto 2--Al MacInnis scored from his side of the red line--a shot of nearly 100 feet--beating Felix Potvin with 1.8 seconds to play and the Blues won at Toronto.

Boston 4, Ottawa 2--Rob DiMaio scored the game-winning goal in the second period to lead the Bruins at Kanata, Ontario.

DiMaio’s fifth goal, at 9:06, followed by Ted Donato’s score at 13:46, secured the victory for Boston. The Bruins also got goals from Jason Allison and Dmitri Khristich.

Phoenix 6, Edmonton 3--Teppo Numminen and Shane Doan scored within 84 during a four-goal second period at Phoenix, and the Coyotes extended Edmonton’s winless streak to nine games.