NHL ROUNDUP : Canadiens Do It With Defense, 5-0

The Montreal Canadiens stretched their winning streak to seven with another magnificent defensive performance Saturday night at Montreal.

With goaltender Patrick Roy facing only 15 shots, the Canadiens romped to a 5-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

In the seven victories in a row that give the Adams Division leaders an 11-3-1 record, they have given up only five goals.

In their 15 games this season, the Canadiens have given up only 21 goals.

That is the kind of defense that has not been seen in the league since Bobby Orr started the trend to wide-open play more than 25 years ago.

Five Canadiens scored goals as Montreal breezed to its fourth shutout. Sylvain Turgeon scored one of the goals for his 400th point.

The Canadiens dominated at home against the Sabres in the same manner they did Friday night at Buffalo. In that game, Buffalo had 18 shots against Roland Melanson and managed to score a goal in a 5-1 loss.

Quebec 6, San Jose 3--The Sharks scored first at Quebec, but then form prevailed and they suffered their 12th consecutive defeat.

The Nordiques, who were the worst team in the league until the expansion Sharks came along, improved to 2-9-1.

Doug Smail had two goals for the Nordiques and Owen Nolan, the leading goal-scorer in the league, scored his 14th.

Minnesota 4, Chicago 3--Disgruntled goalie Jon Casey, who led the surprising North Stars to the Stanley Cup finals last spring, turned down the team’s latest offer. However, the North Stars found a reliable replacement, Darcy Wakaluk, and won at Bloomington, Minn.

Wakaluk started because Casey didn’t show up until game time. He stopped 29 shots for his first victory.

Mike Craig scored on a breakaway with 2:26 left to break a 3-3 tie and spoil Ed Belfour’s debut.

Belfour, the top goalie in the league last season, was a holdout until last week.

Hartford 6, Pittsburgh 5--Mikael Anderson and Rob Brown scored 68 seconds apart to cap a four-goal second period for the Whalers at Pittsburgh.

The Stanley Cup champion Penguins are 1-5-1 in their last seven games and trail Washington by 10 points in the Patrick Division.

Mario Lemieux scored twice for the Penguins, his eighth and ninth of the season.

New York 4, Philadelphia 2--John Ogrodnick broke open a tight game at Philadelphia when he scored two goals in the third period to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead.

With the Rangers leading, 2-1, Ogrodnick scored his fourth goal at 8:34 when he tipped in a shot by Mark Messier.

That was enough for Mike Richter, who stopped 21 shots to gain the victory.

The Rangers had been winless in their last four visits to Philadelphia.

Boston 4, Detroit 1--The Bruins, who faded in the last period Thursday night at home and lost to the Kings, took it out on the Red Wings.

After a fairly even first period, the Bruins took charge in the second. They outshot the Red Wings, 21-3, in the 20-minute session. But there were only two minutes left in the period when Bobby Carpenter scored to break the 1-1 tie.

Defenseman Stephane Quintal scored twice for the Bruins. Craig Janney had three assists.

Washington 7, New York Islanders 4--Alan May scored his first two goals of the season and the Capitals built a big early lead at Uniondale, N.Y.

Two minutes into the final period, the Capitals, who scored four times in the first period, led, 6-2.

The Capitals improved to 11-3-0 with their ninth consecutive victory over the Islanders.

The Capitals’ Dino Ciccarelli had a goal and three assists to reach the 800-point total in his career.

“I forgot all about it,” Ciccarelli said. “It’s a milestone, but I’m hoping there are a few more milestones ahead.”