NHL ROUNDUP : McPhee Leads Canadiens to 5-3 Win

Mike McPhee, one of the key players for the Montreal Canadiens for several seasons, has battled injuries this season.

He returned just in time to lead the Canadiens to a 5-3 victory over the Boston Bruins Saturday night at Montreal.

McPhee, playing in only his fifth game of the season, scored his first two goals to help end the Bruins’ unbeaten string at nine games. It also kept the Canadiens in a tie with Buffalo for first place in the tight Adams Division race.

The Bruins have not won at the Forum since Dec. 13, 1986. During that period the Canadiens are 11-0-1 against them.

Goals by McPhee, who has been nursing a strained abdominal muscle, and Stephane Richer in the first three minutes gave the Canadiens a 2-0 lead.

But Cam Neely scored his 16th and 17th goals to get the Bruins even.

McPhee put the Canadiens ahead to stay at 4:01 of the second period.

Washington 4, Pittsburgh 1--Back-to-back victories against a good team are difficult. Even though they came home after beating Washington at Landover, Md., Friday night, the Penguins had little chance.

Washington goaltender Don Beaupre, sent to an early shower after giving up six goals in barely half the game Friday night, came back to play brilliantly in Pittsburgh. He stopped 15 shots, losing a shutout with less than 12 minutes remaining when Mario Lemieux scored a short-handed goal.

Beaupre was hurt on the play in which Lemieux scored and had to leave a few minutes later.

Geoff Courtnall set up three goals as the Capitals dominated from start to finish.

With 17 seconds remaining, the teams engaged in a free-for-all involving all the players on the ice except the goaltenders.

St. Louis 3, Calgary 3--The Flames led, 3-1, with five minutes to play at St. Louis.

But Adams Oates scored on a deflection at 15:02, and Rony Hrkac tied it with 1:45 left in regulation. The tie gave Calgary’s Stanley Cup champions an 0-5-4 record in the last nine games.

Edmonton 7, New York Islanders 2--Normand Lacombe, benched for 12 games after going scoreless in eight in a row, was ready when he was reinstated for the game at Uniondale, N.Y.

Lacombe scored his first three goals and had an assist to lead the Oilers to an easy victory over the Islanders, who fell to 5-17-3.

The Oilers are 4-1-0 in their last five.

Buffalo 3, Quebec 2--Pierre Turgeon scored with just 16 seconds remaining in regulation at Quebec to keep the Sabres in a tie for first place in the Adams Division with Montreal.

Turgeon took a pass from Dave Andreychuk and beat goalie Ron Tugnutt for his 11th goal.

The Sabres built a 2-0 lead but couldn’t hold it.

Hartford 5, Philadelphia 2-- Ron Francis and Scott Young scored power-play goals less than five minutes apart in the second period at Hartford, Conn., to break open a close game.

Goaltender Mike Liut stopped 18 shots, lowered his goals-against average to 2.31 and ended the Whalers’ three-game losing streak.

Toronto 7, New York Rangers 4--Gary Leeman scored twice at Toronto to help the Maple Leafs end a four-game losing streak.

The Rangers lead the Patrick Division by five points.

After scoring four times in the first two periods against Bob Froese, the Maple Leafs scored three times off John Vanbiesbrouck in the final 20 minutes.

New Jersey 3, Winnipeg 1--John MacLean and Sylvain Turgeon scored first-period goals and the Devils held on to win at Winnipeg and move into a tie for second place in the Patrick Division.

A late onslaught enabled the Jets to outshoot the Devils, but goalie Chris Terreri was superb, stopping 38 shots, 18 of them in the last period.