NHL Roundup : Whalers Defeat Nordiques Again, 5-2

If there was any doubt that General Manager Emile Francis has built the Hartford Whalers into a formidable hockey team, it has been dispelled.

One of the toughest chores in the NHL is to beat a good team in back-to-back games. It is especially difficult when the second game is on the road.

Risto Siltanen scored two power-play goals Saturday night at Quebec to break open a close game and lead the Whalers to a 5-2 victory that knocked the Nordiques out of a share of first place in the tough Adams Division.

Friday night at Hartford, the Whalers, who are tied with Boston for third in the league’s most competitive division, overwhelmed the Nordiques, 11-6, with their best offensive display of the season.

With Montreal winning, the Canadiens lead the Adams Division with 54 points, Quebec has 52, Boston and the Whalers 47 and the last-place Buffalo Sabres 45.

Francis, after 22 mostly successful seasons with the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues, was hired in May, 1983 to see if he could build the Whalers into a competitive team. In three previous seasons they had won only 61 of 240 games.

Although the Whalers showed improvement in their first two seasons under Francis, they still couldn’t win half their games.

From the start of this season there has been marked improvement. Under third-year Coach Jack Evans, the Whalers have played well all season.

The back-to-back wins over the Nordiques has put the Whalers three games over .500 (23-20-1). Never before in their seven NHL seasons have they had a winning record this late in the season.

“We wanted to build from the goal out,” Francis said. “When we obtained Mike Liut from St. Louis last season, I knew we were on the right road. Mike is a playoff goalie.”

Liut faced 28 Quebec shots and registered his 15th victory of the season. Friday night, the Whalers drove the league’s hottest goalie, Clint Malarchuk, who had won seven in a row, to cover with six goals in just over a period.

In this game Quebec brought out well-rested Mario Gosselin, who had not played since Dec. 28. For two periods he held the Whalers to two goals on 21 shots. But defenseman Siltanen broke the game open by scoring on two of the first three Hartford shots in the last period.

New York Rangers 5, Edmonton 4--In a shocker at Edmonton, the Rangers got a power-play goal from former King Brian MacLellan early in the third period and made it stand up.

Before MacLellan scored at 2:45 of the period, the Oilers had killed off 24 consecutive penalties.

Wayne Gretzky assisted on two Oiler goals to extend his scoring streak to 36 games.

Washington 5, Philadelphia 2--Apparently, when this game began at Landover, Md., the Flyers were still in shock. Friday night at Philadelphia, they had lost to the New York Islanders on a goal by Bryan Trottier as time ran out.

Before the Flyers were ready to play, Bob Carpenter and Alan Haworth scored goals 25 seconds apart. The Capitals, one of the league’s toughest defensive teams, had a two-goal margin and the game wasn’t even two minutes old.

With former Flyer Pete Peeters performing well in goal, the Capitals remained in command throughout.

The Flyers’ lead in the Patrick Division was cut to eight points.

Montreal 3, New York Islanders 0--Doug Soetaert stopped 21 shots at Montreal to register his second shutout in a week and put the Canadiens on top alone in the Adams Division.

Bobby Smith, extending his scoring streak to 16 games, and Randy Bucyk scored goals 43 seconds apart in the opening minutes for the Canadiens. Bucyk is the nephew of former Boston Bruin great John Bucyk.

Calgary 7, Detroit 4--Defenseman Al MacInnis had a goal and two assists in a four-goal second-period rally at Detroit that enabled the Flames to win their second in a row.

The Red Wings (9-31-5) have the worst record in the league and have not won in their last 10 home games.

Minnesota 5, Toronto 2--Dino Ciccarelli scored twice at Toronto to lead the North Stars to victory. The North Stars are 4-1-1 in the last six games.

Pittsburgh 5, St. Louis 2--Moe Mantha scored twice in the second period--the second when his team was short-handed--to lead the Penguins to victory at St. Louis.