NHL Roundup : Hot Sabres Defeat Canadiens, 4-2

Rick Vaive has always been a high scorer in his 10 seasons in the National Hockey League, but always for a team struggling to get out of the second division.

A month ago, the lowly Chicago Blackhawkstraded him to the Buffalo Sabres, another struggling team.

But with Vaive leading the way, the Sabres are no longer struggling. They are the hottest team in hockey.

Friday night at Buffalo, Vaive scored his 12th goal in 14 games since joining the Sabres to lead them to a 4-2 victory over the best team in the National Hockey League, the Montreal Canadiens.

The Sabres extended their unbeaten string to 9 games (7-0-2) and took over second place in the Adams Division. They trail the Canadiens by 20 points and will play them at Montreal tonight.

Vaive, who scored more than 50 goals three times for weak Toronto teams, has 15 points in his last 10 games. On Friday, he assisted on Scott Arniel’s goal, which gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead before the game was 5 minutes old.

Hartford 8, New Jersey 6--Ron Francis had a hat trick and Kevin Dineen scored twice at East Rutherford, N.J., as the Whalers extended their unbeaten streak to 5 games (4-0-1).

The Whalers overcame a 3-goal deficit to hand the Devils their sixth loss in the last 9 games.

Detroit 8, Toronto 1--Steve Yzerman had a goal and 2 assists at Detroit to become the first player in Red Wing history to score 100 points twice in his career. Yzerman has 45 goals and 56 assists for 101 points. Last season, he had 50 goals and 52 assists for 102 points.

The Red Wings, who extended their lead in the Norris Division to 12 points over St. Louis and Minnesota, fired 53 shots at Toronto goalie Ken Wregget.