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Thursday, Apr. 6 7:30pm ET
Flyers ride Atlanta express into first | |||||
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Despite all they've been through, the Philadelphia Flyers have managed to do more than survive. Shadowed by illness and ever deepening turmoil, they could end up with the best record in the Eastern Conference. In fact, they could end up with their best record since Eric Lindros was first catching the eye of scouts as a teen-aged phenom in Canada. The Flyers put their endurance and survival instincts to the test again Thursday night, outlasting a third-period barrage to escape with a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. "I suppose with everything that's going on, we've played pretty well," said Daymond Langkow, who scored his 17th goal The victory tied the Flyers for the conference lead with New Jersey, which lost to Buffalo. If they win their last two games against Boston and the New York Rangers, the Flyers would clinch the top spot in the East and their first Atlantic Division title since 1995-96. They only need a point in the last two games to hold off Florida for the fourth spot in the East, which would give them home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. All this despite coach Roger Neilson's battle with cancer and Lindros' concussion and ugly feud with general manager Bob Clarke. "It's a difficult situation, because everybody has an opinion," goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck said. "The one that is most important is the attitude that you take -- to come, to play, to want to win." Although Lindros has been out with a concussion since March 13, Philadelphia has a chance to post its best record in 15 years. A victory and a tie would give the Flyers 104 points, the most since getting 110 in 1985-86. The Flyers trailed the Devils by 15 points in February. "At that time, Roger really was holding us together, saying, 'Guys, we can still do this, we can still do this,"' Vanbiesbrouck said. "Even before he went down, he was always looking at New Jersey, always pointing us at New Jersey." Cheers erupted every time conference-leading New Jersey was shown to be trailing Buffalo. Mark Recchi notched his NHL-leading 61st and 62nd assists, and Jody Hull sealed the Philadelphia victory with an empty-net goal with 21 seconds left. Vanbiesbrouck faced only nine shots in the first two periods, but the Thrashers bombarded him with 12 in the third as Atlanta threatened to tie the game several times in the final minutes. Atlanta goaltender Norm Maracle had his winless streak extended to 12 games. He is 0-11-1 since shutting out the Flyers 1-0 on Jan. 14. "We're a team that's upcoming," Maracle said. "We're proud that we can stay in the game against a lot of good teams." Keith Jones scored his ninth goal for the Flyers, and Andreas Karlsson scored his fifth for the expansion Thrashers, who have won three of 38 games since that victory over Philadelphia. Langkow scored his 17th goal on a terrific give-and-go play from Recchi, who accepted the Bob Clarke Trophy as the team's MVP before the game. Lindros, stripped of his captaincy after criticizing the team's medical staff, won the award four times. Assistant general manager Paul Holmgren presented Recchi with his trophy, but the mere mention of Clarke's name resulted in cacophonous boos. Clarke and Lindros reached an icy stalemate in their shaky relationship when the 27-year-old superstar said the team failed to diagnose his fourth concussion in two years. Lindros is expected to be medically ready to play sometime after the first playoff round, but no one knows when or if he will. Vanbiesbrouck, still a team leader despite rookie Brian Boucher's emergence as the possible No. 1 playoff goalie, was asked if he wished Lindros would apologize so the Flyers could put the squabble behind them. "I'd like to live in a perfect world, but we don't," Vanbiesbrouck said. "We have issues that we care about, and what we like is not necessarily what's going to happen. "We don't want to get caught in a compromising situation. I think that the team's made a commitment to us. Bob Clarke has certainly made it clear to us -- and we take it that way -- that he's thinking about today and how we win today. That's a very important factor for the team to feel, that he goes out and puts his neck out for us." Lindros is recovering in Toronto and will have his head checked again Monday in Chicago. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Atlanta Clubhouse Philadelphia Clubhouse Referee suffers separated shoulder during game in Philly
GM wants Lindros to apologize to Flyers' medical staff
RECAPS NY Islanders 2 Ottawa 1
Philadelphia 3 AUDIO/VIDEO   John Vanbiesbrouck preserves the lead with this great save.avi: 664 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||