It has been feast or famine for the Nords in first periods this season. The Nords came out firing on goals by Simpson (5), Roberts (2), and Sakic, who scored his first of the season on the power play. Sakic has had a slow start to the season; but Head Coach Ken Dryden has definitely not been concerned with the play of his captain.
 

'Joe would probably tell you he hasn't had the start to the season he's wanted; but he's still doing a lot of good things out there. He's always playing against the best centres in the league. Look at his competition. We've played Washington twice, and Hartford in our first five games, so going up against Gretzky, Messier, and Lemieux is never easy.  He takes pride in how he plays at both ends of the ice, and I'm more than confident he'll get back to himself.'
 

The Nords almost gave the game away to their provincial rivals. Up 3-0, Montreal scored three goals in just under 8 minutes in the third period. The good news is the team didn't crumble, and were rewarded for sticking to their game. After some good cycling in the offensive zone by the line of Lawton, Simpson, and Lemay completed a nice passing play that was tapped in at the side of the net by Moe Lemay, which was his first of the season. The Nords would lock things down, and escape with a 4-3 win.
 

'It was nice to finally put one in,' Lemay said post-game. 'Our line has been playing really well this season; but I had not found the back of the net. I mean Craig's got five, and Brian has two, but thankfully they were able to finally get me one.'