NHL Roundup : Sabres Sharp Again With Bowman Back, 6-3

It’s just possible that when General Manager Scotty Bowman replaced Jim Schoenfeld as coach of the Buffalo Sabres, he knew what he was doing.

Dave Andreychuk scored a goal and assisted on two others Wednesday night at Buffalo to lead the Sabres to a 6-3 victory over Winnipeg. Since Bowman returned as coach, the Sabres are 3-0.

Playing in the tough Adams Division, the Sabres aren’t out of the cellar yet. They are in a three-way tie with Boston and Hartford for the last three spots in the division.

“We have a young team,” Bowman told the Associated Press, “and when they were struggling, the players lost their confidence and were pressing. That’s why we made the change.

“We’ve made only a couple of slight changes, but you can see the confidence coming back to the players.

It has also helped to have Tom Barrasso playing well in the nets.

The Jets fired 40 shots at the 20-year-old goaltender. He gave up a goal on the Jets’ second shot of the game but didn’t permit another score until after the Sabres built a 5-1 lead early in the last period. The final Winnipeg goal came with 25 seconds left.

For Bowman, the winningest coach in NHL history, it was his 721st victory.

The Sabres’ 22-19-5 record would be good enough to lead the Norris Division, but it leaves them six points behind Montreal, leader of the Adams Division.

Pittsburgh 7, Edmonton 4--The surprising Penguins scored five goals in the third period at Edmonton to overcome a 3-2 deficit and win their fourth game in a row.

Mike Bullard scored two of his three goals in the last period, and Mario Lemieux assisted on three of the five goals.

The Oilers’ Wayne Gretzky had a goal and an assist to extend his scoring streak to 37 games.

The streak is second only to Gretzky’s 51-game streak during the 1983-84 season.

Defenseman Paul Coffey of the Oilers had an assist to extend his scoring streak to 25 games.

Detroit 6, Boston 5--Warren Young scored his second goal of the game at 1:32 of overtime at Detroit to end the Red Wings’ seven-game losing streak. The Wings had lost 10 in a row at home.

Young’s goals were almost 60 minutes apart. His first at 2:16 of the first period started the Red Wings off to a 4-2 lead. The Bruins scored the next three goals, taking a 5-4 lead on Bill Derlago’s shot at 6:33 of the last period.

Ron Duguay’s goal with nine minutes left in regulation tied the game at 5-5.

Chicago 3, Montreal 3--Doug Wilson scored on a 70-foot slapshot with less than five minutes remaining in regulation at Chicago to get the Black Hawks a tie.

When neither team could score in overtime, it gave the Black Hawks a 2-0-6 record in overtime games. The Rangers have not fared well in overtime. They are 0-5-4.

New York Rangers 4, Toronto 2--Mike Ridley and Reijo Ruotsalainen scored power-play goals just 89 seconds apart in the second period at Toronto. It was the fourth loss in a row for the Maple Leafs. The Rangers have won five of their last seven games.

New Jersey 6, Calgary 6--The Devils trailed, 6-2, after two periods but rallied for four goals--the last with 49 seconds left in regulation--to gain a tie at Calgary.

The Devils scored three goals within 82 seconds early in the period to cut the deficit to a goal. They finally earned a tie when Aaron Broten scored shortly after the Devils removed their goalie.