Capital Win Makes Oates Happy

On a night when he reached another playmaking milestone, Adam Oates seemed happier just to finally have won a game.

Oates had two goals and two assists as the Washington Capitals defeated the New Jersey Devils, 5-2, Thursday night at Washington for their first victory of the season.

Oates’ assist on Peter Bondra’s goal midway through the second period was the 900th of his career. With his next assist, Oates will move into a tie for 11th place with Bryan Trottier on the NHL career list.

“The win was very important, but it was nice to do both on the same night. . . . We really needed a win against the Stanley Cup champs,” Oates said.

Steve Konowalchuk and Dmitri Mironov also scored for Washington, which opened the season 0-4-2. Olaf Kolzig made 34 saves.

“It was bound to happen,” Kolzig said. “This is too good a hockey team to keep not winning.”

Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Rafalski scored for the Devils, who fell to 0-2-1 on the road.

Montreal 3, Philadelphia 3--Oleg Petrov scored with 3:13 left in regulation at Philadelphia as the Canadiens tied the Flyers, who are winless in six games.

Rookie Andrei Markov and Trevor Linden each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens. Montreal goalie Jeff Hackett stopped 42 shots.

Pittsburgh 3, Ottawa 3--Martin Straka scored with 22 seconds left in regulation to lift the Penguins into a tie with the Senators at Kanata, Canada.

Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Kovalev also scored for Pittsburgh, which rallied from a three-goal third-period deficit.

Nashville 2, Detroit 1--Cliff Ronning’s goal 1:51 into overtime gave the surprising Predators the victory over the Red Wings at Detroit.

Sergei Fedorov forced the extra session when he scored Detroit’s only goal with only 3.4 seconds left in regulation.

Toronto 4, Edmonton 1--Mats Sundin had two goals and an assist to lead the Maple Leafs to a victory over the Oilers at Edmonton, Canada.

Around the League

Marty McSorley, who earlier this month was convicted of assault with a weapon for hitting Vancouver’s Donald Brashear with his stick during a game, has been granted a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman regarding his reinstatement. “Yes,” league spokesman Frank Brown said Thursday when asked if McSorley contacted the NHL. “A meeting has been scheduled and no other details will be divulged. The commissioner will issue a ruling when he has resolved the matter.” . . . Red Wing defenseman Chris Chelios is expected to have an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee today, team spokesman John Hahn said. Chelios twisted it in the third period of Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over St. Louis. Steve Yzerman had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Monday and will be on crutches for four weeks. . . . Capital wing Richard Zednik, whose cross-checking penalty helped Patrick Roy break the NHL record for goaltending victories, was suspended by the NHL for four games for the hit. . . . Vancouver Canuck defenseman Mattias Ohlund will have eye surgery today and be out at least four weeks.