Bondra’s Big Night Lifts Caps

NHL

Peter Bondra scored four goals Wednesday night, giving him 50 for the season and leading the visiting Washington Capitals to a 5-1 victory over the Sabres at Buffalo, N.Y.

Bondra, who tallied three of the goals in the second period, became the first Washington player since Bobby Carpenter had 53 in 1984-85 to reach the 50-goal milestone.

His 50th came when Michal Pivonka, who assisted on all four of the goals, sent a pass from behind the net to the right faceoff circle, where Bondra one-timed the puck past Buffalo goaltender Andrei Trefilov.

Bondra had already recorded his seventh career hat trick in the second period to lead Washington back from a first-period deficit. The Capitals outshot the Sabres 41-17 for the game and remained in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Bondra, who had a career-high 37 goals in 1992-93, has 11 goals in his last seven games and four hat tricks this season. Dale Hunter also scored for Washington, which is 4-0-3 in its last seven games.

Capitals 5, Sabres 1

Washington 0 4 1 - 5

Buffalo 1 0 0 - 1

First period-1, Buffalo Dawe 23 (Grosek, Plante), 2:27 (pp).

Second period-2, Washington, Bondra 47 (Pivonka, Nelson), 1:25. 3, Washington, Bondra 48 (Nelson, Pivonka), 6:11. 4, Washington, Bondra 49 (Pivonka), 12:49 (sh). 5, Washington, Hunter 11, 17:39.

Third period-6, Washington, Bondra 50 (Pivonka), 15:10.

Shots on goal-Washington 18-16-7-41. Buffalo 9-4-4-17.Power-play opp.-Washington 0 of 5; Buffalo 1 of 3.Goalies-Washington, Carey 33-21-9 (17 shots-16 saves). Buffalo, Trefilov 4-8-1 (41-36).A-13,835 (16,230).

Senators 3, Panthers 2

Kanata, Ontario

Goaltender Damian Rhodes stopped Martin Straka’s penalty shot with 9.6 seconds remaining, allowing Ottawa to edge Florida.

Straka had a chance to tie the game when he was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down on a breakaway. But Rhodes used his stick to stop Straka’s forehand deke at the goal line and the Panthers suffered their fifth loss in six games.

Florida 2 0 0 - 2

Ottawa 0 0 3 - 3

First period-1, Florida, Sheppard 36 (Dionne, Jovanovski), 1:56. 2, Florida, Garpenlov 21 (Mellanby, Niedermayer), 14:53.

Second period-None.

Third period-3, Ottawa, Archibald 6 (Demitra), 7:10. 4, Ottawa, Alfredsson 23 (Neckar), 11:40 (sh). 5, Ottawa, Picard 2 (Chorske, Neckar), 17:57. Shots on goal-Florida 10-2-4-16. Ottawa 3-13-11-27.Power-play opp.-Florida 0 of 5; Ottawa 0 of 4.Goalies-Florida, Vanbiesbrouck 24-18-7 (27 shots-24 saves). Ottawa, Rhodes 12-24-5 (16-14).A-13,074 (18,500).

Jets 3, Stars 1

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Dallas Drake scored late in the third period to clinch Winnipeg’s victory over Dallas, moving the Jets closer to a playoff berth and eliminating the Stars from the postseason.

Drake picked up a perfect cross-ice pass from Keith Tkachuk to score the goal and seal the victory, which propelled the Jets within one point of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Western Conference.

Dallas 0 1 0 - 1

Winnipeg 1 1 1 - 3

First period-1, Winnipeg, Korolev 22 (Janney, Tverdovsky), 7:32 (pp).

Second period-2, Dallas, Adams 21 (Harvey, Modano), 3:13 (pp). 3, Winnipeg, Numminen 11 (Janney, Tkachuk), 10:11 (pp).

Third period-4, Winnipeg, Drake 18 (Tkachuk, Janney), 19:40 (pp).

Shots on goal-Dallas 8-10-11-29. Winnipeg 9-9-6-24.Power-play opp.-Dallas 1 of 4; Winnipeg 3 of 7.Goalies-Dallas, Moog 12-18-6 (24 shots-21 saves). Winnipeg, Khabibulin 24-18-2 (29-28).A-11,958 (15,393).

Blues 6, Avalanche 3

Denver

Steve Leach scored two goals and backup goalie Jon Casey, substituting for the injured Grant Fuhr, had 29 saves to lead St. Louis past Colorado.

Fuhr did not make the trip because of a strained right knee, ending his streak of consecutive starts at 76 - an NHL record.

St. Louis 1 2 3 - 6

Colorado 0 2 1 - 3

First period-1, St. Louis, Leach 10 (Zezel, Hudson), 8:07.

Second period-2, St. Louis, Creighton 10 (Matteau, Pronger), 1:15. 3, St. Louis, Gretzky 23, 7:54 (pp). 4, Colorado, Deadmarsh 21 (Yelle, Ricci), 10:55. 5, Colorado, Simon 14 (Young, Sakic), 12:24.

Third period-6, St. Louis, Zezel 7 (Pronger, MacInnis), 8:49 (pp). 7, St. Louis, Leach 11 (Zezel), 9:08. 8, Colorado, Kamensky 36 (Sakic, Ozolinsh), 13:00 (pp). 9, St. Louis, Anderson 5 (Gretzky, Noonan), 19:40 (pp).

Shots on goal-St. Louis 5-13-9-27. Colorado 15-9-8-32.Power-play opp.-St. Louis 3 of 8; Colorado 1 of 7.Goalies-St. Louis, Casey 2-1-0 (32 shots-29 saves). Colorado, Roy 27-23-2 (27-21).A-16,061 (16,061).

Bruins 4, Canadiens 1

Montreal

Todd Elik’s first-period goal began Boston’s victory over Montreal that tightened the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins are in seventh place with 84 points, one back of Washington, and two points shy of the Canadiens’ total. Boston has one game in hand on Montreal.

Boston 2 1 1 - 4

Montreal 0 1 0 - 1

First period-1, Boston, Elik 13, 5:43 (pp). 2, Boston, Reid 22 (Rohloff), 11:38 (sh).

Second period-3, Boston, Sutter 3 (Reid, Moger), 14:03. 4, Montreal, Damphousse 36 (Rucinsky, Rivet), 16:42.

Third period-5, Boston, McEachern 23 (Oates, Bourque), 4:17.

Shots on goal-Boston 16-14-7-37. Montreal 4-14-11-29.Power-play opp.-Boston 1 of 3; Montreal 0 of 4.Goalies-Boston, Ranford 31-29-9 (29 shots-28 saves). Montreal, Thibault 25-17-4 (37-33).A-21,273 (21,221).

Lightning 4, Whalers 2

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Daren Puppa made 38 saves and Mikael Andersson scored the game-winner at 12:06 of the third period as Tampa Bay boosted its playoff hopes by defeating Hartford.

Roman Hamrlik, Igor Ulanov and Aaron Gavey also scored as the Lightning (35-29-12) pulled two points ahead of defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey in the chase for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Both teams have six games remaining, with Tampa Bay owning an 82-80 advantage in points.

Andersson scored the deciding goal, his seventh of the season, on a feed from Brian Bradley when he hit a one-timer that beat Hartford goaltender Sean Burke over his left shoulder.

Hartford 0 0 2 - 2

Tampa Bay 1 1 2 - 4

First period-1, Tampa Bay, Ulanov 3, 9:13.

Second period-2, Tampa Bay, Gavey 7 (Andersson, Ysebaert), 5:59.

Third period-3, Hartford, Kron 22 (Nikolishin, Brown), 2:08 (pp). 4, Tampa Bay, Andersson 7 (Bradley, Cross), 12:06. 5, Hartford, Cassels 20 (Sanderson), 12:21 (pp). 6, Tampa Bay, Hamrlik 15 (Bradley, Bellows), 15:54 (pp).

Shots on goal-Hartford 17-11-12-40. Tampa Bay 14-14-8-36.Power-play opp.-Hartford 1 of 2; Tampa Bay 1 of 5.Goalies-Hartford, Burke 26-28-6 (36 shots-32 saves). Tampa Bay, Puppa 26-14-9 (40-38).A-22,576 (28,000).

Kings 2, Red Wings 2

Inglewood, Calif.

Kelly Hrudey made 46 saves against the NHL’s best team and teammate Ian Laperriere scored on a faceoff in the second period to help struggling Los Angeles tie Detroit.

Detroit leads the league with 58 victories and 122 points - nearly double the Kings’ 62 points - and is closing in on the record of 60 victories by Montreal in the 1976-77 season. Having lost two straight, the Red Wings need three victories in their final five games to make history.

Detroit 1 1 0 0 - 2

Los Angeles 0 2 0 0 - 2

First Period-1, Detroit, Brown 11 (Yzerman), 11:55.

Second Period-2, Los Angeles, Johnson 11 (Stevens, Ferraro), :26 (pp). 3, Detroit, Coffey 11 (Fedorov, Kozlov), 9:40. 4, Los Angeles, Lapperriere 6 (O’Donnell), 11:48.

Third Period-None.

Overtime-None.

Shots on goal-Detroit 15-13-18-2-48. Los Angeles 4-13-7-0-24.Power-play opp.-Detroit 0 of 5; Los Angeles 1 of 4.Goalies-Detroit, Vernon 20-7-2 (24 shots-22 saves). Los Angeles, Hrudey 5-15-10 (48-46).A-14,663 (16,005).

Blackhawks 5, Maple Leafs 2

Toronto

Murray Craven scored two goals and Chicago, allowing only 18 shots, smothered Toronto.

Chris Chelios, Joe Murphy and Bob Probert, into an empty net with 1:07 remaining, also scored for the Blackhawks, who have a lock on third place in the NHL’s Western Conference.

Chicago 2 1 2 - 5

Toronto 2 0 0 - 2

First period-1, Chicago, Chelios 14 (Sutter, Probert), :54. 2, Chicago, J.Murphy 21 (Suter, Chelios), 3:17 (pp). 3, Toronto, Muller 13 (Gilmour, Presley), 4:41 (pp). 4, Toronto, L.Murphy 12 (Schneider, Clark), 17:37 (pp).

Second period-5, Chicago, Craven 17 (Probert, Daze), 16:27 (pp).

Third period-6, Chicago, Craven 18 (J.Murphy, Smith), 1:05. 7, Chicago, Probert 16 (Shantz), 18:53 (en).

Shots on goal-Chicago 6-7-8-21. Toronto 7-3-8-18.Power-play opp.-Chicago 2 of 5; Toronto 2 of 7.Goalies-Chicago, Belfour 21-16-9 (18 shots-16 saves). Toronto, Potvin 27-25-11 (20-16).A-15,746 (15,746).

Ducks 1, Oilers 0

Anaheim, Calif.

Paul Kariya scored his 44th goal and Guy Hebert stopped 27 shots for his third shutout of the season as Anaheim blanked Edmonton.

By beating Edmonton for the first time in five meetings this year, Anaheim moved ahead of the Oilers into ninth place in the Western Conference standings.

Edmonton 0 0 0 - 0

Anaheim 1 0 0 - 1

First period-1, Anaheim, Kariya 44 (Semenov, Selanne), 9:21 (pp).

Second period-None.

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-Edmonton 7-11-9-27. Anaheim 9-8-8-25.Power-play opp.-Edmonton 0 of 5; Anaheim 1 of 3.Goalies-Edmonton, Gage 2-6-1 (25 shots-24 saves). Anaheim, Hebert 24-22-4 (27-27).A-17,174 (17,174).

Flames 4, Canucks 3

Calgary, Alberta

Ron Stern’s wrist shot midway through the third period boosted Calgary over Vancouver.

Stern’s winner was the fourth straight goal scored by the Flames, who won for only the third time this season after trailing going into the final period.

The victory vaulted Calgary ahead of Toronto and into a tie with the Canucks for the fifth playoff spot in the Western Conference, three points back of St. Louis.

Vancouver 2 1 0 - 3

Calgary 0 2 2 - 4

First period-1, Vancouver, Mogilny 54 (Aucoin, Odjick), 1:25. 2, Vancouver, Courtnall 25, 18:57.

Second period-3, Vancouver, Mogilny 55 (Tikkanen, Aucoin), :46 (pp). 4, Calgary, Sullivan 9 (Fleury), 5:51. 5, Calgary, Titov 27 (Roberts, Fleury), 14:51.

Third period-6, Calgary, Fleury 43 (Roberts), 3:26. 7, Calgary, Stern 10 (Patrick), 8:29.

Shots on goal-Vancouver 11-8-5-24. Calgary 13-7-10-30.Power-play opp.-Vancouver 1 of 2; Calgary 0 of 2.Goalies-Vancouver, McLean 14-21-9 (30 shots-26 saves). Calgary, Tabaracci 18-14-3 (24-21).A-18,300 (20,230).