Kucera’s Late Hartford Goal Beats Struggling Ottawa, 3-2
NHL
Frantisek Kucera scored his first goal of the season with 1:06 remaining Wednesday night to give the Hartford Whalers a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
“I’m not going to say this is a turning point,” said Hartford coach Paul Maurice, now 2-2 since taking over for fired Paul Holmgren. “This is one step. We came back. It’s a game that can give us confidence.”
It was just the Whalers’ third victory in 12 games after a 4-0 start. Hartford has been averaging a little more than two goals a game this season and was 0-8 when the other team scored first.
Whalers 3, Senators 2
Ottawa 0 1 1 - 2
Hartford 0 1 2 - 3
First period-None.
Second period-1, Ottawa, Alfredsson 8 (Daigle, Duchesne), 7:33 (pp). 2, Hartford, Emerson 7 (Cassels, Sanderson), 10:27 (pp).
Third period-3, Ottawa, Tormanen 5 (Hill, Neckar), 4:00. 4, Hartford, Cassels 7 (Emerson, Rice), 10:56 (pp). 5, Hartford, Kucera 1 (Sanderson, Burke), 18:54.
Shots on goal-Ottawa 15-8-13-36. Hartford 7-12-11-30.Power-play opp.-Ottawa 1 of 5; Hartford 2 of 7.Goalies-Ottawa, Beaupre 6-7-0 (30 shots-27 saves). Hartford, Burke 6-5-1 (36-34).A-7,641 (15,635).
Sabres 2, Stars 1
Buffalo, N.Y.
Dominik Hasek had 29 saves and Randy Burridge and Pat LaFontaine each scored a goal to give Buffalo a win over Dallas.
Dallas 1 0 0 - 1
Buffalo 1 1 0 - 2
First period-1, Dallas, Harvey 3 (Carbonneau), 2:20. 2, Buffalo, Burridge 7 (Plante), 10:13.
Second period-3, Buffalo, LaFontaine 4 (Audette, May), 12:32.
Third period-None.
Shots on goal-Dallas 9-10-11-30. Buffalo 6-9-4-19.Power-play opp.-Dallas 0 of 6; Buffalo 0 of 6.Goalies-Dallas, Moog 2-4-2 (19 shots-17 saves). Buffalo, Hasek 6-8-1 (30-29).A-13,391 (16,230).
Canadiens 4, Oilers 1
Edmonton, Alberta
Oleg Petrov had a goal as Montreal continued its fine road play.
Edmonton goaltender Bill Ranford robbed Petrov once, but couldn’t do it twice as the Canadiens’ right wing scored the game-winning goal.
Montreal 0 1 3 - 4
Edmonton 1 0 0 - 1
First period-1, Edmonton, Arnott 7 (Weight), 19:47.
Second period-2, Montreal, Turgeon 8 (Recchi, Quintal), 16:11 (pp).
Third period-3, Montreal, Petrov 2 (Keane, Damphousse), 6:00. 4, Montreal, Damphousse 4 (Turgeon Petrov), 11:44. 5, Montreal, Damphousse 5 (Keane), 19:33 (sh) (en).
Shots on goal-Montreal 17-8-7-32. Edmonton 10-14-19-43.Power-play opp.-Montreal 1 of 3; Edmonton 0 of 5.Goalies-Montreal, Roy 10-6-0 (43 shots-42 saves). Edmonton, Ranford 5-7-3 (31-28).A-13,866 (16,230).
Mighty Ducks 7, Avalanche 3
Anaheim, Calif.
Alex Hicks had two goals and an assist in his NHL debut and Paul Kariya scored on his only two shots of the first period as Anaheim ended Colorado’s 10-game unbeaten streak.
Colorado 0 3 0 - 3
Anaheim 3 2 2 - 7
First period-1, Anaheim, Kariya 14 (Rucchin, Sillinger), 1:41 (pp). 2, Anaheim, Kariya 15 (Van Allen, Karpa), 9:07. 3, Anaheim, Hicks 1 (Valk, York), 12:25.
Second period-4, Colorado, Young 2 (Ozolinsh), 4:15 (pp). 5, Colorado, Young 3, 5:45. 6, Anaheim, Corkum 3 (Hicks, Karpa), 6:49. 7, Colorado, Foote 2 (Rucinsky), 11:48. 8, Anaheim, Krygier 4 (Douris), 16:35.
Third period-9, Anaheim, Rucchin 7 (York, Douris), 6:40 (pp). 10, Anaheim, Hicks 2 (Corkum), 15:46.
Shots on goal-Colorado 6-13-6-25. Anaheim 10-10-9-29.Power-play opp.-Colorado 1 of 5; Anaheim 2 of 5.Goalies-Colorado, Thibault 2-2-1 (29 shots-22 saves). Anaheim, Shtalenkov 2-2-0 (25-22).A-17,174 (17,174).