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Tuesday, Oct. 12 7:30pm ET
Bondra's hat trick sinks Flyers | |||||
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The winless Philadelphia Flyers took the lead in a game for the first time this season, then lost to a Washington Capitals team that is quickly learning how to come from behind.
Peter Bondra scored the tying and winning goals 58 seconds apart late in the third period, capping his 14th career hat trick to give the Capitals a 5-4 victory Tuesday. Last season, the Capitals were 1-34-2 when trailing after two periods. This season, they've already tied one and won one, making up a two-goal, third-period deficit to tie Los Angeles on Saturday before rallying again Tuesday against the Flyers. "With our speed, we don't feel we're out of it," Washington coach Ron Wilson said. "Right now we've got our young guys playing extremely well." And, while youngsters such as Andrei Nikolishin, Richard Zednik and Jan Bulis were setting the stage, Bondra got the glory. Bondra's slap shot from a tight angle in the left circle went between goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck's legs to tie the game with 3:55 remaining. Then Bondra, after Nikolishin drew the defensemen away on a two-on-two break, beat Vanbiesbrouck on the stick side, again from the left circle, to win the game with 2:57 to play. "It's not a bad play to shoot a puck," said Bondra, whose 31 goals last season seemed a disappointment after his 52 the season before. "If I didn't shoot, the goal wouldn't be there." Steve Konowalchuk and Zednik also scored for the Capitals. Mark Recchi had four assists for the Flyers, who wasted a big offensive effort after scoring only one goal in their first three games. "We weren't scoring for the first three games," said Eric Lindros, who gave Philadelphia a 4-3 lead in the second period with his team's third power-play goal of the game. "Tonight we scored, but we still had some bad breaks." Simon Gagne scored twice in the first five minutes, and Valeri Zelepukin had a second-period, power-play goal for the Flyers. Eight minutes into the game, Philadelphia had outshot Washington 8-0. Then the Capitals got organized offensively and scored on their first two shots on goal, one from Konowalchuk and one from Zednik. Bondra gave the Caps a 3-2 lead at 15:37 of the first period with his third goal of the season, a slap shot from the top of the left circle that Vanbiesbrouck misjudged. It was a just a taste of Bondra's heroics to come. "It was a real tough loss," Philadelphia coach Roger Neilson said. "A guy like Bondra is dangerous. Whenever he shoots the puck, it can go in. When he's hot like that, he's hard to stop." The Flyers were missing center Rod Brind'Amour, who is expected to miss eight weeks after undergoing surgery on his broken left foot Tuesday. Brind'Amour will wear a cast for four weeks. The Capitals, who were swept in four games by the Flyers last season, played without right wing Yogi Svejkovsky, who suffered a strained groin and is listed as day-to-day. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Philadelphia Clubhouse Washington Clubhouse Brind'Amour could miss two months after foot surgery
RECAPS Florida 2 Montreal 1
Washington 5 AUDIO/VIDEO   Peter Bondra beats John Vanbiesbrouck for the game-winner.avi: 740 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Eric Lindros scores the Flyers' third power-play goal.avi: 796 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Bondra ties the game with this great shot.avi: 704 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||
