NHL Roundup : Capitals Beat Bruins, 6-3, Regain Lead

Bengt Gustafsson, Bob Gould and Craig Laughlin scored goals in an 87-second span of the third period Tuesday night at Landover, Md., to give Washington a 6-3 victory over the Boston Bruins and move the Capitals into first place in the Patrick Division.

The win was the Capitals’ 13th in 15 games and their 28th home victory of the season, breaking the club record set last season. It gave Washington 101 points, one more than the idle Philadelphia Flyers.

Gustafsson started the third-period outburst when he took a pass from Scott Stevens at the Boston blue line and broke in alone before putting his own rebound past Bruin goalie Pat Riggin at 14:23. The goal gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead.

Gould’s goal came 12 seconds later on a pass from Gaetan Duchesne, and Laughlin added his at 16:50.

St. Louis 2, New York Islanders O--The Blues got a first-period goal from Rick Meagher and outstanding goaltending from Greg Millen to beat the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y., and move back into a first-place tie with the Chicago Blackhawks in the Norris Division.

In winning their third straight game and first over the Islanders in seven games dating back to Feb. 2, 1984, the Blues tied the idle Blackhawks with 80 points. The Blues have five games left and the Blackhawks seven.

New York Rangers 5, New Jersey 4--Jim Wiemer, recalled from the minors earlier in the day, scored his first goal of the season on a 40-foot shot with 3:33 to play to give the playoff-hopeful Rangers the win at East Rutherford, N.J.

The victory snapped the Rangers’ three-game losing streak and moved them to within one point of Pittsburgh for the fourth and final playoff berth in the Patrick Division. Both teams have six games left, including a meeting on the final day of the season.

Edmonton 7, Detroit 2--Mark Messier scored short-handed goals 30 seconds apart in the second period to snap a 2-2 tie and the Oilers went on to an easy win at Detroit.

It was the fifth straight victory for the Oilers, who have won 12 of their last 13 games and 16 of 18.

Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky had three assists to raise his league-leading point total to 201. He reached the 200-point plateau for the third straight year and the fourth time in seven NHL seasons.