Nylander Nets Four Goals for Struggling Blackhawks

Michael Nylander scored four goals and Doug Gilmour and Eric Daze each added two as the Chicago Blackhawks broke a three-game road losing streak with a 9-3 victory over the Boston Bruins at Boston.

“We have lost a few games this season because we haven’t been ready to play and we talked about that this morning,” Nylander said. “Tonight we scored. We’ve had opportunities like that in other games, but haven’t put the puck in the net.”

Nylander, who has seven goals this season, last scored as many as three in a game on April 7, 1993, at Ottawa as a member of the Hartford Whalers.

In his first NHL start, goalie Marc Lamothe stopped 22 shots. Lamothe, whose only previous NHL action came when he replaced injured goalie Jocelyn Thibault on November 27, allowed first-period power-play goals to Ray Bourque and Joe Thornton before settling down.

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Colorado 3, Carolina 1--Milan Hejduk, Dave Reid and Brian Rolston scored at Denver as the Avalanche ended the Hurricanes’ five-game unbeaten streak.

Patrick Roy made 27 saves for the Avalanche. Roy’s 421 victories rank him fourth on the NHL career list. He trails only Tony Esposito (423), Jacques Plante (434) and Terry Sawchuk (447).

St. Louis 4, San Jose 2--Pierre Turgeon had a goal and two assists for the Blues at St. Louis, giving him six points in two games.

Roman Turek was six minutes away from his second shutout of the season when Owen Nolan scored his 18th goal with six minutes to go.

Nashville 4, Detroit 1--Kimmo Timonen and rookie David Legwand scored first-period goals at Nasville, Tenn., as the Predators ended a team-record seven-game losing streak.

Rob Valicevic added a goal and two assists for Nashville, which won for the first time since Nov. 18.

Florida 2, Washington 1--Scott Mellanby scored the go-ahead goal for the Panthers early in the third period at Sunrise, Fla.

With the score tied, 1-1, Mellanby scored 3:10 into the third when he took a loose puck near the blue line, skated around defenseman Alexei Tezikov, and beat goalie Olaf Kolzig high to the glove side.

Atlanta 4, New York Islanders 3--Mike Stapleton scored his second goal of the game with only 30.7 seconds left to give the Thrashers the victory at Uniondale, N.Y.

The expansion Thrashers have won only two road games and both have come against the Islanders.

Stapleton’s stunning game-winner came as he carried the puck into the Islanders’ zone and beat Felix Potvin with a slap shot high on the stick side.

Edmonton 3, Vancouver 2--Ryan Smyth scored two goals, including the winner at the 11:51 mark of the third period to give the Oilers the victory at Edmonton.

Smyth and Bill Guerin scored first-period goals for the Oilers. Markus Naslund and Adrian Aucoin scored for Vancouver.

Toronto 3, Pittsburgh 2--Mats Sundin had two goals, including the winner 27 seconds into overtime at Toronto.

Sundin, who also had an assist, tipped Jonas Hoglund’s cross-ice pass past goalie Tom Barrasso as the Toronto star was being knocked to the ice.

Philadelphia 3, Montreal 2--Mark Recchi, playing his first game in Montreal since being traded to Philadelphia last spring, scored the go-ahead goal in the Flyers’ victory.

Recchi’s 11th goal came 6:36 into the third period when he back-handed in a rebound from the edge of the crease to break a 2-2 tie.

Calgary 4, New Jersey 2--Cory Stillman scored for the fifth consecutive game and Fred Brathwaite had 37 saves at East Rutherford, N.J., as the Flames ended the Devils’ 12-game home unbeaten streak.

Dallas 3, Ottawa 1--Jamie Langenbrunner had a goal and an assist at Kanata, Ontario as the Stars completed a four-game road trip without a loss or tie.

Brenden Morrow and Mike Modano also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Stars.

New York Rangers 1, Buffalo 1--Alexandre Daigle scored early in the third period to give the Rangers the tie at Buffalo, N.Y.