NHL Roundup : North Stars End 10-Year Drought at Spectrum

A sixth consecutive victory for the high-flying Flyers seemed a sure thing. They were playing the slumping Minnesota North Stars Sunday night at Philadelphia.

There wasn’t a player on either team that was around the last time the North Stars had won in the Spectrum. Moreover, in losing their last three games, the North Stars had been outscored, 17-4.

The North Stars were struggling to keep out of the cellar in the Norris Division, supposedly the weakest division, while the Flyers were leading the tough Patrick Division by five points.

Form seemed to be prevailing when the Flyers scored twice before the game was 5 1/2 minutes old.

Suddenly, it all changed. The North Stars erupted and skated to a 5-3 victory, their first in Philadelphia in almost 10 years. Since their last win on April 8, 1978, the North Stars had gone 0-11-5 at the Spectrum.

Bob Brooke, going in on a breakaway after leaving the penalty box, broke a 3-3 tie late in the second period and Moe Mantha, recently acquired in a trade with Edmonton, gave the North Stars a two-goal lead halfway through the last period.

“When the game started it seemed like every other game we’ve played here,” Minnesota Coach Herb Brooks said. “We battled back to tie in the first period, then took charge. It could be a big win for us.”

Rookie Larry DePalma had pulled the North Stars even early in the second period with his first National Hockey League goal.

The North Stars really dominated the second period, outshooting the Flyers 13-3 and keeping steady pressure on goalie Ron Hextall.

Hartford 2, Detroit 1--From the opening faceoff, the Whalers dominated this game at Hartford, but they didn’t pull it out until Ray Ferraro stole the puck and scored at 2:21 of overtime.

In the first period, the Red Wings had only two shots, but the first, just 50 seconds after the opening faceoff, was Steve Yzerman’s 35th goal. It was his seventh in the last three games.

The Whalers outshot the Red Wings, 18-2, in the first period and 41-17 for the game.

The Whalers had three shots in the extra period before Ferraro took the puck away from winger Joe Kocur behind the Wings’ net. Ferraro swept the puck past goalie Sam St. Laurent to end the game.

Montreal 5, Quebec 3--There were some scary moments in the third period at Quebec, but the Canadiens held on to regain first place in the Adams Division.

The Canadiens built a 4-1 lead, scoring on three of their first four shots, but goaltender Brian Hayward was flattened by Quebec’s Gord Donnally and Patrick Roy had to replace him early in the third period. The Nordiques scored twice in three minutes to cut the deficit to a goal.

There were anxious moments until Sergio Momesso scored for the Canadiens with 5:42 left.

Chicago 3, Vancouver 1--Steve Thomas and Bill Watson scored in the third period at Chicago to lead the Blackhawks to victory.

Thomas’ tie-breaking goal came at 2:26 of the final period after the Blackhawks had peppered goalie Richard Brodeur with five shots in the first two minutes.

The winning goal came just 13 seconds after Brodeur was hit in the back of the head by teammate Tony Tanti’s stick. Shortly after Brodeur recovered, he became a loser.