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BOX SCORE
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Fights on the ice and in the stands are
pretty standard when the Rangers play the Flyers. It should be
interesting Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
|  | | Rangers goalie Mike Richter stops a point-blank shot by Phildelphia's Valeri Zelepukin and a point-blank Zelepukin. |
Mark Recchi had a goal and three assists as the Philadelphia
Flyers stopped the New York Rangers 5-0 Wednesday night, their
first dominant performance of the season.
Eric Lindros punctuated a physical game with a resounding check
on Petr Nedved with 6:20 left. After Lindros blasted Nedved loose
from his helmet and off his skates, he bloodied Todd Harvey's eye
in a fight in front of the Philadelphia bench. The teams play again
Friday in New York.
"Any time you get back-to-back games, things will heat up a
little bit," Lindros said. "New York-Philadelphia is a pretty
good rivalry."
Lindros, assessed two minutes for elbowing and five minutes for
fighting, skated off amid an ovation from a sellout crowd that was
depleted by early departures and ejections. Rangers and Flyers fans
had several fights themselves.
"It was pretty interesting in the stands, too," Lindros said.
Philadelphia won its second straight after starting the year
0-5-1. The Rangers lost for the second time in six games. Flyers
goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, a former Rangers goalie, stopped 34
shots for his 36th career shutout.
"There's a lot you can say about the game, but the bottom line
is, it's not enough," Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch said. "It's
not enough to keep it close or stay even in shots or get chances."
Recchi, hampered by a series of concussions after the Flyers
acquired him last season, is a completely different player this
year. He has three goals and 11 assists for 14 points, second in
the league.
"Guys are putting the puck in the net for me," Recchi said.
Moments before the Lindros incident, Jody Hull made it 4-0 on a
short-handed goal with 9:34 left. Recchi came up with New York's
errant centering pass and rushed up ice. He slid a pass underneath
Leetch to Hull, who one-timed it past Richter.
With 18.2 seconds left, Recchi passed to rookie Simon Gagne for
his fourth goal, clinching the game. Both of those goals resulted
from defensive takeaways -- whereas the Flyers' winless streak was
marred by carelessness in their own zone.
"We're playing better defensively," said Lindros, with two
trickles of blood on his chin. "And when we did have defensive
breakdowns, the Beezer was perfect."
Recchi scored on a nifty pass from John LeClair to make it 3-0
in the second, a rare moment of beauty in a game filled with
crushing hits and chippy play. Lindros skated across the blue line
and appeared to attempt a pass to Recchi, who was tied up and spun
around. The puck went instead to LeClair, who shuttled it back to
Recchi for his third goal of the season past a sprawling Mike
Richter with 8:48 left in the period.
"It was a solid game from everybody, in every aspect of the
game," said defenseman Eric Desjardins.
The Flyers bombarded Richter with shots in the opening minutes
and finally broke through with six minutes left. Desjardins'
deflected shot from a sharp angle fluttered in while Richter lay on
the ice with Daymond Langkow on top of him.
The Rangers complained that Richter was interfered with, but
Langkow was pushed onto the goaltender.
Valeri Zelepukin scored an unassisted goal 4:43 into the second
when he intercepted a pass behind the net, skated in front and
flicked it between Richter's pads for a 2-0 lead.
Ulf Samuelsson, who signed a $4.55 million, two-year contract
with the Flyers on Monday, did not play. He will make his debut
Friday against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Rangers Clubhouse
Philadelphia Clubhouse
Flyers on defensive: Deal Dykhuis to Habs, waive Richardson
Flyers bolster defense by signing Ulf Samuelsson
 Morganti: Strange moves afoot in Philly
RECAPS
Nashville 4
Buffalo 3
Detroit 6
San Jose 3
Florida 5
Vancouver 2
Colorado 2
Montreal 1
Philadelphia 5
NY Rangers 0
Carolina 3
Toronto 3
Dallas 2
Edmonton 1
Boston 2
Los Angeles 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mark Recchi scores on the pass from John LeClair.
avi: 746 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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