John Maclean

The National Hockey League made a lackluster appearance at San Diego Sports Arena on Friday, with 5,142 hockey die-hards watching a 3-0 victory by the New Jersey Devils over the expansion San Jose Sharks. San Diego has hopes of getting an NHL expansion team for 1994, and one official of the San Diego Gulls said Friday's game "was San Diego's chance to show its support of the NHL." If the turnout was middling, so was the game.

The timing was right for the New Jersey Devils. Less than a minute away from defeat, the Devils got a game-tying goal from Claude Lemieux in regulation and a game-winner from Stephane Richer in the second overtime for a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers in the NHL playoffs Sunday night. "We're usually very good holding leads in the third period, but we let this one get away," Rangers defenseman Kevin Lowe said. The Rangers were leading, 3-2, when Lemieux scored with 42.

Coach Andy Murray has it doped out on a yellow legal pad. The Kings need to win eight of their last 16 games to make certain they can keep playing after the regular season ends April 9. The same numbers are being added up all over the NHL, or at least in cities where the playoffs are a possibility. The rest of the schedule will be played with those numbers in mind. "I asked the guys if they noticed any difference in the way the last five or six games had been played," Murray said Wednesday.

The St. Louis Blues are starting to look like the team that was so dominating early this season. Scott Young scored a short-handed goal, Marty Reasoner tapped in another goal and Roman Turek made 28 saves as the Blues defeated the Dallas Stars, 2-1, Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series. Dallas played without center Mike Modano, who sprained his left ankle in the opener, and in the first period lost center Shaun Van Allen after he took a puck to his mouth.

Rob Ray had gone 359 days without a goal. It seems Tampa Bay has gone that long without a win. "Who's counting?" Ray said after his goal helped the Sabres to a 4-1 win over Tampa Bay in Buffalo on Friday night. "I'm not here for my goal-scoring ability. If I thought I was, I would have been gone a long time ago. It's nice to chip in every once in a while. I wish it wasn't so far between the goals."

As the battle for playoff spots in the Western Conference rages on, Blackhawk defenseman Chris Chelios says the playoffs have already started for Chicago. Chelios scored the game-winner with 7:57 left, and the Blackhawks strengthened their playoff prospects with a 2-1 victory Sunday over the Flames at Calgary. "These last 10 to 15 games mean so much, as far as I'm concerned, this is the playoffs right now," Chelios said. "If we don't win now, we're eliminated."

Martin Brodeur's late-season bid for the Vezina Trophy has carried the New Jersey Devils to first place in the Eastern Conference. Brodeur made 26 saves for his third consecutive shutout as the Devils moved into first place with a 3-0 victory over Tampa Bay on Friday night at East Rutherford, N.J. "I just want to play as well as I can the rest of the season and after that other people will make the decision," Brodeur said about the Vezina.

Eric Lindros started late this season because of a groin injury, and even when he got back into the Philadelphia lineup it was easy to tell he wasn't his old self. Until Thursday night. Lindros put in one of his six shots on goal, moved the puck well and issued a few crunching checks of Hartford players in the Flyers' 3-2 victory in Philadelphia. "There are a lot of things starting to happen for him," Coach Terry Murray said after the Flyers had extended their unbeaten streak to six games.

John LeClair, returning to Montreal for the first time since being traded to Philadelphia two weeks ago, had the second three-goal game of his career to spark the Flyers to a 7-0 triumph over the Canadiens on Saturday night. Flyer goalie Ron Hextall made 18 saves for his first shutout of the season and 10th of his career. Defenseman Eric Desjardins, also part of the trade, scored the Flyers' sixth goal.