NHL Roundup : Montreal Wins Latest Battle of Quebec, 5-3

Mats Naslund scored the tying goal and Guy Carbonneau the winner as the Canadiens charged from behind to beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-3, Wednesday night at Montreal.

Despite 22-below-zero weather outside, a capacity 17,983 jammed the Forum for the battle for first place in the Adams Division between the bitter Quebec Province rivals.

For two periods the Nordiques held the upper hand and a 3-1 lead. But the Canadiens charged back to score four times in the third period and move four points in front of Quebec.

Naslund’s 34th goal at 12:26 tied the score, and Carbonneau scored the game-winner with just 2:41 left. Brian Skrudland scored into an empty net with one second remaining to complete the scoring.

In his fourth season in the NHL, Naslund, a 26-year-old left wing, has developed into a real star. Before joining Montreal, he was an outstanding player in Sweden.

With 79 points in 51 games, Naslund is fourth in the NHL in scoring and already has tied his career high, set last season.

“I look in the paper and it shocks me to find I’m among the top five scorers,” Naslund said. “I do know I’m having my best NHL season. One of the reasons is I’m out there on the power play and get more chances to pick up points.

“What’s really important, though, is that we’re leading the division. The winner of this division will have battled through the toughest of the four divisions. They will be a definite Stanley Cup contender. I see no reason why it can’t be us.”

With the Canadiens leading, 4-3, the Nordiques were on a power play for the last 1 minute 41 seconds. Canadien rookie goalie Patrick Roy stopped a blast from Michel Goulet from right in front to save the game.

J.F. Sauve, a menace all season to the Canadiens, scored Quebec’s first goal. He has six goals in six games against Montreal this season.

Boston 5, Hartford 4--This is another bitter Adams Division rivalry. In this game at Hartford, the Bruins’ superb defenseman, Ray Bourque, scored on a power play at 2:26 of overtime to give the Bruins their second straight win over the Whalers.

Monday night at Boston, Bourque scored the winning goal against the Whalers with 12:27 left in regulation. The consecutive victories gave the Bruins a solid grip on third place.

The Bruins went into the final period with a 4-2 lead, but Kevin Dineen and Ray Ferraro each scored their second goals of the game to get Hartford even with more than 12 minutes left in regulation.

Edmonton 5, St. Louis 5--Wayne Gretzky started a new scoring streak, but the Oilers continue to resemble anything but a championship team.

Gretzky, whose scoring streak ended at 39 games Monday at Chicago, had three assists at St. Louis to run his total to 97 in 51 games. The last assist set up Paul Coffey’s game-tying goal with 5:44 left in regulation.

The Blues had scored twice in less than a two-minute span earlier in the third period to take a 5-4 lead.

Toronto 5, Washington 2--Walt Poddubny, recalled from the minors shortly before game time, scored what proved to be the winning goal late in the first period at Toronto. It was the second road loss in a row for the Capitals against a weak team. They were shut out, 7-0, by lowly Detroit Tuesday night.

Winnipeg 5, Buffalo 3--Defenseman Dave Ellett scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:11 left at Winnipeg to snap the Jets’ four-game losing streak. It was the Sabres’ fourth consecutive loss.

Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 1--Terry Ruskowski scored with five seconds left in the second period at East Rutherford, N.J., to break a 1-1 tie, and the Penguins went on to extend the Devils’ winless string to seven games.

Chicago 5, New York Rangers 4--Ed Olczyk scored early in the third period at Chicago to put the Black Hawks in front, but they had to hold off a furious Ranger rally to win it.

Vancouver 4, Calgary 4--Petri Skriko scored with 46 seconds remaining in the third period to give Canucks a tie with Flames at Vancouver.