NHL ROUNDUP : Whalers Give Rude Welcome to Sabre Coach

After watching the Sabres perform in the second period at Buffalo Friday night, John Muckler is probably wishing he could devote all his time to being director of hockey operations for the team.

In his first period as successor to deposed coach Rick Dudley, the Sabres led the visiting Hartford Whalers, 3-0.

Then the Sabres collapsed. Except for faceoffs after goals, almost the entire period was spent at the Sabres’ end of the ice. They were outshot, 24-3, outscored, 5-0, and finally routed, 8-4.

Defenseman Zarley Zalapski scored the last two goals in the five-goal uprising that ruined Muckler’s debut.

New York Rangers 5, Washington 3--Two nights after signing a five-year, $13-million contract, Mark Messier paid a major dividend to the Rangers.

Messier had a hat trick at Landover, Md., and the Rangers cut into Washington’s big lead in the Patrick Division.

Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 3--It looked like overtime at East Rutherford, N.J., when Scott Stevens scored to get the Devils even with 76 seconds left.

But 36 seconds later, Kevin Stevens fed Joe Mullen with a perfect pass, and Mullen gave the hot Penguins the victory. Pittsburgh is 8-2-1 in the last 11 games.

The Stanley Cup champion, after a miserable start, is only six points out of first in the Patrick Division.