It May Be New Year, But Devils In Stride

NHL

Three months and 13 days after winning the Stanley Cup, the New Jersey Devils still look like the best team in hockey.

The Devils opened the season in playoff form Saturday, getting two goals from John MacLean and a flawless performance from Martin Brodeur in a 4-0 victory over visiting Florida that spoiled Doug MacLean’s head coaching debut.

“This is what we wanted to do,” Devils captain Scott Stevens said. “We wanted to play well and keep that feeling we had last year playing that team-oriented game. It’s a lot more fun than having an up-and-down season.

“I think we have a lot of fire in our eyes and we want to stay on top and keep winning. This is a great start.”

Devils 4, Panthers 0

Florida 0 0 0 - 0

New Jersey 2 0 2 - 4

First Period-1, New Jersey, MacLean 1 (Thomas, Broten), 5:47. 2, New Jersey, Holik 1 (Peluso, McKay), 6:16.

Second Period-None.

Third Period-3, New Jersey, MacLean 2 (Chambers, S.Niedermayer), :53 (pp). 4, New Jersey, Richer 1, (S.Niedermayer), 19:27 (sh-en).

Shots on goal-Florida 10-2-5-17. New Jersey 16-9-7-32. Power-play opp.-Florida 0 of 4; New Jersey 1 of 3. Goalies- Florida, Vanbiesbrouck 0-1-0 (31 shots-28 saves). New Jersey, Brodeur 1-0-0 (17-17). A-19,040 (19,040).

Islanders 4, Bruins 4

Boston

New York spoiled Boston’s debut in its new FleetCenter, overcoming a two-goal deficit with goals by Kirk Muller and Travis Green for a tie.

N.Y. Islanders 1 1 2 0 - 4

Boston 2 1 1 0 - 4

First Period-1, Boston, Moger 1 (Stevens, Elik), 10:40. 2, Boston, Neely 1 (Oates, Mullen), 11:06. 3, New York, Green 1 (Bertuzzi, Palffy), 12:38 (pp).

Second Period-4, Boston, Neely 2 (Oates, Bourque), 6:56 (pp). 5, New York, Bertuzzi 1 (Green, Palffy), 9:11.

Third Period-6, Boston, Neely 3 (Bourque, Oates), :42 (pp). 7, New York, Muller 1 (Clark, Lindros), :59. 8, New York, Green 2 (Palffy), 2:59.

Overtime-None.

Shots on goal-New York 7-8-8-2-25. Boston 15-13-10-2-40. Power-play opp.-New York 1 of 4; Boston 2 of 9. Goalies-New York, Soderstrom 0-0-1 (40 shots-36 saves). Boston, Lacher 0-0-1 (25-21). A-17,565 (17,565).

Whalers 2, Rangers 0

Hartford, Conn.

Sean Burke made 37 saves and the Hartford Whalers got goals from defenseman Glen Wesley and Kelly Chase in the shutout of New York in the season opener for both teams.

Burke earned his first shutout since January 1994 and the seventh of his career.

N.Y. Rangers 0 0 0 - 0

Hartford 0 1 1 - 2

First Period-None.

Second Period-1, Hartford, Wesley 1 (Emerson, Cassels), 7:52 (pp).

Third Period-2, Hartford, Chase 1 (Shanahan, Glynn), 8:32.

Shots on goal-New York 17-14-6-37. Hartford 10-10-9-29. Power-play opp.-New York 0 of 7; Hartford 1 of 6. Goalies-New York, Richter 0-1-0 (29 shots-27 saves). Hartford, Burke 1-0-0 (37-37). A-15,635 (15,635).

Capitals 4, Blues 1

Landover, Md.

Jim Carey stopped 17 shots and Pat Peake had a goal and an assist, leading Washington to a season-opening victory over St. Louis.

St. Louis 0 0 1 - 1

Washington 1 2 1 - 4

First Period-1, Washington, Gonchar 1 (Peake, Jones), 8:10.

Second Period-2, Washington, Klee 1 (Ustorf), 12:06 (sh). 3, Washington, Juneau 1 (Konowalchuk), 19:59.

Third Period-4, Washington, Peake 1 (Jones, Cote), 6:13 (pp). 5, St. Louis, MacInnis 1 (Hull, Corson), 17:08 (pp).

Shots on goal-St. Louis 5-4-9-18. Washington 8-9-5-22. Power-play opp.-St. Louis 1 of 7; Washington 1 of 8. Goalies- St. Louis, Fuhr, 0-1-0 (22 shots-18 saves). Washington, Carey, 1-0-0 (18-17). A-18,130 (18,130).

Carey lost a shot at his fifth career shutout when Al MacInnis scored a power-play goal with 2:52 remaining.

Flames 3, Lightning 3

St. Petersburg, Fla.

James Patrick and Mike Sullivan scored third-period goals and former Spokane Chiefs goalie Trevor Kidd made two tough saves in overtime as Calgary rallied from a two-goal deficit.

Calgary 1 0 2 0 - 3

Tampa Bay 1 1 1 0 - 3

First Period-1, Tampa Bay, Klima 1 (Ysebaert, Hamrlik), 2:52 (pp). 2, Calgary, Stillman 1 (Zalapski, Nylander), 7:37.

Second Period-3, Tampa Bay, Gratton 1 (Hamrlik, Bradley), 17:53 (pp).

Third Period-4, Tampa Bay, Selivanov 1 (Cullen), 2:59 (pp). 5, Calgary, Patrick 1 (Stern), 11:52 (pp). 6, Calgary, Sullivan 1 (Housley, Fleury), 18:03.

Overtime-None.

Shots on goal-Calgary 8-5-10-1-24. Tampa Bay 7-12-10-3-32. Power-play opp.-Calgary 1 of 6; Tampa Bay 3 of 7. Goalies-Calgary, Kidd 0-0-1 (32 shots-29 saves). Tampa Bay, Puppa 0-0-1 (24-21). A-22,735 (28,000).

Flyers 7, Canadiens 1

Montreal

Philadelphia chased goaltender Patrick Roy and beat Montreal.

On the night the Canadiens retired jersey No. 1 worn by legendary goaltender Jacques Plante three decades ago, their current goalie left the game at 2:12 of the second period after allowing five goals on 15 shots.

Philadelphia 4 2 1 - 7

Montreal 0 1 0 - 1

First Period-1, Philadelphia, Juhlin 1 (Brind’Amour), 3:02. 2, Philadelphia, Lindros 1 (LeClair), 11:21. 3, Philadelphia, LeClair 1 (Renberg, Lindros), 12:52. 4, Philadelphia, DiMaio 1 (Antoski, Dionne), 14:07.

Second Period-5, Philadelphia, Fedyk 1 (Brind’Amour, Juhlin), 2:12. 6, Philadelphia, Brind’Amour 1 (Juhlin, Haller), 6:06. 7, Montreal, Recchi 1, 7:56 (sh).

Third Period-8, Philadelphia, Renberg 1 (LaClair, Desjardins), 18:27 (pp).

Shots on goal-Philadelphia 12-8-7-27. Montreal 9-13-9-31. Power-play opp.-Philadelphia 1 of 7; Montreal 0 of 6. Goalies-Philadelphia, Hextall 1-0-0 (31 shots-30 saves). Montreal, Roy 0-1-0 (15-10), Labrecque (2:12 second, 12-10). A-17,646 (16,259).

Penguins 8, Maple Leafs 3

Pittsburgh

Mario Lemieux returned from a 17-month layoff with four assists and Ron Francis and Tomas Sandstrom had two goals apiece as Pittsburgh won.

Toronto 3 0 0 - 3

Pittsburgh 4 3 1 - 8

First Period-1, Toronto, Z.Nedved 1 (Gilmore), :48. 2, Pittsburgh, Francis 1 (Lemieux, Zubov), 7:08 (pp). 3, Toronto, Sundin 1 (Gilmore, Andreychuk), 10:15 (pp). 4, Pittsburgh, Park 1, 12:10 (sh). 5, Pittsburgh, P.Nedved 1, 13:47. 6, Pittsburgh, Jagr 1 (Francis), 18:26. 7, Toronto, Sundin 2 (Gill, Hoage) 18:49.

Second Period-8, Pittsburgh, Francis 2 (Jagr, Lemieux), 5:04 (pp). 9, Pittsburgh, Zubov 1 (Jagr, Park), 8:50 (sh). 10, Pittsburgh, Sandstrom 1 (Lemieux, Francis), 15:42 (pp).

Third Period-11, Pittsburgh, Sandstrom 2 (Zubov, Lemieux), 11:07 (pp).

Shots on goal-Toronto 12-14-6-32. Pittsburgh 13-14-13-40. Power-play opp.-Toronto 1 of 9; Pittsburgh 4 of 7. Goalies-Toronto, Potvin 0-1-0 (40 shots-32 saves). Pittsburgh, Barraso 1-0-0 (32-29). A-17,181 (17,181).

Jets 7, Stars 5

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Igor Korolev scored three goals, helping Winnipeg open its final season in Manitoba with a victory over Dallas.

Dallas 2 3 0 - 5

Winnipeg 4 0 3 - 7

First Period-1, Dallas, Carbonneau 1, 5:56 (sh). 2, Winnipeg, Darrin Shannon 1 (Eastwood, Mills), 10:20. 3, Winnipeg, Doig 1 (Tkachuk, Doan), 11:53. 4, Winnipeg, Korolev 1 (Quint), 12:53. 5, Dallas, Kennedy 1 (Harvey, Carbonneau), 14:06. 6, Winnipeg, Korolev 2 (Doan, Numminen), 16:56 (pp).

Second Period-7, Dallas, K.Hatcher 1, 7:21 (pp). 8, Dallas, Modano 1 (K.Hatcher, Harvey), 9:31 (pp). 9, Dallas, Gagner 1 (Adams, Lehtinen), 10:23 (pp).

Third Period-10, Winnipeg, Zhamnov 1 (Stapleton, Numminen), 9:53. 11, Winnipeg, Wilkinson 1, 16:21 (sh). 12, Winnipeg, Korolev 3 (Eastwood), 19:30 (en).

Shots on goal-Dallas 9-16-18-43. Winnipeg 16-10-8-34. Power-play opp.-Dallas 3 of 12; Winnipeg 1 of 6. Goalies- Dallas, Moog 0-1-0 (33 shots-27 saves). Winnipeg, Khabibulin 1-0-0 (43-38). A-13,914 (15,393).

Blackhawks 4, Sharks 3

San Jose, Calif.

Chris Chelios broke a tie late in the third period to lead Chicago to victory over San Jose and hand rookie coach Craig Hartsburg his first NHL win.

Chicago 1 2 1 - 4

San Jose 1 1 1 - 3

First Period-1, San Jose, Ozolinsh 1, 1:03 (pp). 2, Chicago, Daze 1, 7:16.

Second Period-3, Chicago, Roenick 1, (G. Sutter, Belfour), 4:56. 4, Chicago, Savard 1 (Probert, Carney), 10:04. 5, San Jose, Donovan 1 (Nazarov, Janney), 18:48.

Third Period-6, San Jose, Ragnarsson 1, 16:37. 7, Chicago, Chelios 1 (Nicholls, Poulin), 17:34.

Shots on goal-Chicago 16-5-7-28. San Jose 5-7-8-20. Power-play opp.-Chicago 0 of 4; San Jose 1 of 5. Goalies- Chicago, Belfour, 1-0-0 (20 shots-17 saves). San Jose, Irbe, 0-1-0 (28-24). A-17,190 (17,190).

Sabres 3, Senators 1

Ottawa Brad May scored on a freakish deflection with 5:59 remaining in regulation as Buffalo beat Ottawa.

Buffalo 0 1 2 - 3

Ottawa 0 1 0 - 1

First Period-None.

Second Period-1, Galley 1 (May, LaFontaine), 5:08 (pp). 2, Ottawa, Picard 1 (Straka, Alfredsson), 6:20.

Third Period-3, Buffalo, May 1 (Galley, LaFontaine), 14:01. 4, Buffalo, LaFontaine 1 (Bodger), 19:49 (en).

Shots on goal-Buffalo 3-6-10-19. Ottawa 15-12-12-39. Power-play opp.-Buffalo 1 of 3; Ottawa 0 of 5. Goalies- Buffalo, Hasek 1-0-0 (39 shots-38 saves). Ottawa, Beaupre 0-1-0 (18-16). A-9,567 (10,575).