Stevenson Halts Slump

NHL

Turner Stevenson finally is back on track.

The right winger scored 3 minutes, 12 seconds into overtime Monday night in Montreal, giving the Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the slumping Hartford Whalers and their fifth straight victory.

“I’ve been working on going to the net - that’s what you have to do to score,” said Stevenson, who took advantage of a turnover in the Hartford zone to flip a backhand shot into an open side past Sean Burke.

After going scoreless in his first 15 games this season, Stevenson got his first of the season in a 5-1 win over Ottawa last Saturday night. With goals in consecutive games, he thinks the pressure is off.

“I thought this was one of my better games,” he said. “I was a lot more comfortable.

“I was pressing before, trying to get my first goal. I have to work the corners and go to the net. That’s my game. I can’t take it end to end. I give it to Vincent Damphousse for that.”

Stevenson also set up a fine screen for Brian Savage’s 16th goal of the season.

Damphousse and Pierre Turgeon also scored for the Canadiens. Kevin Smyth, Geoff Sanderson and Steven Rice scored for the Whalers, who have won just three of their last 11.

Canadiens 4, Whalers 3

Hartford 0 1 2 0 - 3

Montreal 0 1 2 1 - 4

First period-None.

Second period-1, Hartford, Smyth 1 (Kron, Kucera), 10:53 (pp). 2, Montreal, Turgeon 9 (Brisebois, Recchi), 17:19 (pp).

Third period-3, Montreal, Savage 16, 2:56. 4, Hartford, Sanderson 4 (Cassels, Rice), 4:37. 5, Hartford, Rice 4, 15:23. 6, Montreal, Damphousse 7 (Petrov, Odelein), 16:27.

Overtime-Montreal, Stevenson 2 (Savage), 3:12. Penalties-None.

Shots on goal-Hartford 10-17-11-0-38. Montreal 21-12-9-1-43.Power-play opp.-Hartford 1 of 5; Montreal 1 of 7.Goalies-Hartford, Burke 6-7-1 (43 shots-39 saves). Montreal, Roy 13-6-0 (38-35).A-16,312 (16,259).

Avalanche 3, Oilers 3, tie Edmonton

Doug Weight scored three goals, including the tying goal with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation, as Edmonton tied Colorado.

Weight, who scored two of his goals in the third period, collected a rebound at the side of Colorado’s net and neatly tucked a high shot behind goaltender Stephane Fiset. It was his eight goal and team-leading 25th point of the season.

Colorado 1 2 0 0 - 3

Edmonton 1 0 2 0 - 3

First period-1, Colorado, Sakic 13 (Klemm), 10:17. 2, Edmonton, Weight 6 (Ciger, Arnott), 12:43.

Second period-3, Colorado, Ricci 2 (Lefebvre, Deadmarsh), 10:44. 4, Colorado, Kamensky 9 (Lemieux, Forsberg), 18:15.

Third period-5, Edmonton, Weight 7 (Ciger, Mironov), 11:45. 6, Edmonton, Weight 8 (Ciger, Arnott), 19:58.

Overtime-none.

Shots on goal-Colorado 11-7-7-3-28. Edmonton 15-7-14-3-39.Power-play opp.-Colorado 0 of 5; Edmonton 0 of 5.Goalies-Colorado, Fiset 11-2-2 (39 shots-36 saves). Edmonton, Ranford 5-8-4 (28-25).A-9,384 (16,230).