Week 7 - Sabres at Capitals

The Sabres perfect 6-0 record is on the line at the Capital Centre
in a battle of 1st place teams

This week's feature matchup is one of two battles of 1st place teams this week as the undefeated Buffalo Sabres (6-0-0) visit the Washington Capitals (4-1-1). Campbell Conference front runners the Jets and Blues are also squaring off this week in St. Louis. The Sabres have won their 6 games by a total of 8 goals, winning 4 one-goal games. The Caps meanwhile have a greater goal differential thanks to routs in L.A. (8-4) and Cleveland (8-1). They are however coming off their 1st loss of the season in Boston last week. The Sabres would appear to hold the lineup advantage based on ratings, but keep in mind that defensive stalwart Mike Ramsey is on the bench - and size and defensive awareness are not the strengths of Housley and Fenvyes. - which could pose a challenge against the speedy Mike Gartner.

Out of Town Scoreboard:

Hartford 3 at New Jersey 6 - Already weary from a physical game in Philadelphia, the Whalers were battered around by a Devils squad who are better than their last place standing may indicate. Both Marty Howe and Michel Galarneau were sidelined by ferocious body checks, and goalie Greg Millen was peppered with 21 New Jersey shots as the Devils prevailed 6-3.

Montreal 4 at NY Islanders 5 - The Islanders were limited to only 10 shots on goal by a strong defensive lineup of the Habs featuring Guy Carbonneau, Rick Green and Chris Chelios. Unforunately Rick Wamsley could only stop 50% of what he faced - including a weak one by Bob Nystrom in the 1st - as the Islanders built a 5-1 lead and hung on for a much needed victory.

Quebec 4 at NY Rangers 4  - Looking for a sweep of New York, the Nordiques held a 4-2 lead late despite only connecting on 11 of their 30 attempted passes. The game looked to be over when Mark Pavelich rang one off the crossbar with 30 seconds left. However Don Maloney would rescue the Rangers by tallying with 16 and 2 seconds left to salvage the tie for New York. Brother's Anton and Marian Stastny each scored a pair for the visitors.

Boston 6 at Philadelphia 2 - The Flyers were only allowing 2.17 goals per game entering the week, but were no match for a Bruins lineup led my Rick Middleton, Ray Bourque and Tom Fergus. Boston played an impressive road game; only trailing in attack zone 2:10-1:45 after 2 periods. The Flyers forwards could not penetrate the tenacious Bruins D' of Bourque and Gord Kluzak, only scoring on two point shots by defenceman Miroslav Dvorak.

Shedden celebrates game winner
away from his teammates

Cleveland 4 at Pittsburgh 5 - An entertaining game at the Igloo as the Penguins led 3-1 after the 1st, and then fired a barrage of shots at Gilles Meloche in the 2nd and early 3rd but could not extend their lead. It was only a matter of time before Barons' Dennis Maruk woke up - as he'd score 2 and add an assist in a 32 second 3-goal flurry midway in the 3rd. But the Penguins are a resilient bunch this year, as Doug Shedden would vault the Pens' back in the lead for good potting his 3rd and 4th goals of the game in the final minute.

Los Angeles 4 at Atlanta 1 - The Firebirds may never win a game. Facing a beleaguered Kings squad minus Bernie Nicholls, they would fall flat at The Omni once again. The light-weight forward trio of Anders Hakansson, Doug Smith and Steve Christoff was a favourable matchup for the defensive tandem of Brad Marsh and Ed Kea - but pivotal errors (an errant pass into their own net) and some bad luck (two goals scored when Kings were bodychecked but the loose puck slid into the empty net) were too much to overcome for the inept Firebirds' attack.

Colorado 2 at Detroit 3 - Despite icing a lineup including Steve Yzerman, Brad Park and Reed Larson, the Red Wings struggled mightily against the woeful Rockies, and trailed 2-1 in the 3rd. However Murray Craven tied it on a goal-mouth scramble and Larson would hit a streaking Ron Duguay in the game's final minute for the breakaway winner. Surprisingly the Rockies held both Yzerman and Park off the score sheet in this surprisingly tight game at the Joe.

Vancouver 1 at Toronto 2 - Toronto was in the attack zone for 5:12 of the 9:00 game but couldn't beat King Richard Brodeur until the game's final minute as Greg Terrion and Rick Vaive scored late to earn the Leafs a hard-fought victory at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Thomas Gradin'less Canucks posed no offensive threat as their only goal was scored when Mark Kirton was flattened by Gary Nylund in the goal-mouth but the loose puck slid into the empty net.

Calgary 5 at Chicago 4 - Paul Reinhart finally came to life with a CPU controlled end to end rush in the final minute to earn the Flames a victory in this matchup of previously winless teams. The Black Hawks only managed to fire 10 shots on Rejean Lemelin; 3 of which were goals by Steve Larmer. The low -flying Hawks and Firebirds are the lone winless teams in the league.

Maxwell blasted home a hat
trick in a wild  8-7 triumph

Edmonton 7 at Minnesota 8 - An absolute barn burner in Bloomington as North Stars defenceman Brad Maxwell netted a hat trick and still wasn't included in the game's 3 Star selection. Both teams squandered 3 goal leads (3-0 Oilers & 7-4 North Stars) before Tom McCarthy finished a tic-tac-toe play with Neal Broten and Dino Ciccarelli for the 8th and decisive goal by the home side. Despite allowing 8 goals on 17 shots, Grant Fuhr made several brilliant saves in the final minutes of a 2nd period that was owned by Minnesota.

Winnipeg 2 at St. Louis 3 - In the week's other matchup of 1st place clubs the Blues dealt the Jets their 1st loss of the season, leaving Buffalo as the league's only undefeated team pending their result in Washington. The Blues looked to be cruising when they scored 2 goals early in the 1st against a Jets lineup that was missing Dave Babych and Dale Hawerchuk. However the Jets would hang around, eventually tying the game on a Laurie Boschman 3rd period goal. Jorgen Pettersson though would counter with his 2nd of the game to earn the win for St. Louis

Feature Game: Buffalo Sabres (6-0-0) at Washington Capitals (4-1-1)