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Sunday, Jan. 23 8:00pm ET
Flyers, Penguins settle for 4-4 tie | |||||
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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins came away with a tie and exactly the same reaction to it: They should have won but were lucky they didn't lose. John LeClair scored with a minute to play and the Flyers, apparently not distracted despite trading Rod Brind'Amour earlier in the day, tied the Penguins 4-4 Sunday night despite squandering a third-period lead. The Penguins led 2-0, fell behind 3-2 as the Flyers' top-ranked power play scored twice, then took back the lead at 4-3 on goals by Jiri Slegr and Robbie Brown 1:04 apart in the third period. But with the Penguins trying to run down the clock and win for the second time in seven games, LeClair steered the puck past Tom Barrasso at 19:00 of the third -- his 26th goal and 11th in 15 games against the Penguins. "We definitely didn't play the first two periods, but we probably should have had two points -- and we're glad to get a tie," Penguins forward Matthew Barnaby said. "I thought when they didn't have (Eric) Lindros and Brind'Amour, we had them." Brind'Amour was dealt to Carolina for holdout Keith Primeau hours before, and Lindros sat out with a concussion. Lindros hopes to play Thursday against Florida. But the Penguins played their third consecutive game without NHL scoring leader Jaromir Jagr, who has sore ribs. Jagr tried to skate earlier Sunday, but appeared to be in pain and almost certainly won't play Tuesday against the New York Rangers. He hasn't played since getting hurt just before scoring a goal Jan. 15 in Nashville. "It was tough in the sense we were missing Rod, who is a complete player, and we were already missing Eric Lindros. That's the tough part of the business," Eric Desjardins said. "But we're getting a great player in Keith Primeau." The Penguins remained winless in overtime _ 0-5-4. The Flyers, 3-2-7 in overtime, had been held to three goals while going 0-3-1 in their previous four games. "We came back and that's a positive, but we needed a win," LeClair said. "That's the disappointing part. After the second period, I thought we had them under pretty good control." They didn't. Slegr made it 3-3 at 6:06 of the third with a shot through traffic from just inside the top of the left circle that eluded rookie goaltender Brian Boucher, who had allowed two goals in his previous two starts. Slegr, scoreless for 16 games, was so happy he finally scored that he took several strides on skates and banged his chest into the glass along the left-wing boards. The Penguins, outshot 33-16 at the time and 39-27 overall, retook the lead at 7:10 when Brown, stationed along the goal line, punched in the rebound of Jan Hrdina's shot for sixth goal and second in as many nights. He also scored in Pittsburgh's 4-2 loss at Montreal on Saturday. "I think it was a good point for us," Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. "It's very important we came back, but we should have had the two points." German Titov, who criticized coach Herb Brooks last week in a Russian newspaper interview for his lack of playing time, scored twice in the first 3:02 as the Penguins -- losers of five of six -- jumped into a 2-0 lead. But the lead and the sudden burst of offense from a team that was held to 29 shots in its previous two games didn't hold up. Philadelphia outshot Pittsburgh 20-4 in the first period and killed off a five-minute Penguins power play early in the second period, yet trailed 2-1 until Marc Bureau scored his second goal at 15:27 of the second. Bureau, normally the seldom-used fifth-line center, moved up to the fourth line to replace Simon Gagne, who shifted to the top line and put the Flyers ahead 3-2 with a power-play goal at 18:30 of the second. Desjardins also scored on the power play at 4:51 of the first, his 11th of the season. The Flyers lead the league with 49 power-play goals. The Penguins, who ended a 0-for-27 power-play drought Wednesday against St. Louis, were 0-for-5 with the man advantage. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Philadelphia Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse Flyers get Primeau from Hurricanes for Brind'Amour
RECAPS Los Angeles 3 Colorado 2
Philadelphia 4 AUDIO/VIDEO   John LeClair scores late in the third to knot the game at 4.avi: 938 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Pittsburgh's Tom Barrasso makes an unbelievable save.avi: 778 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||