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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Eric Lindros continued his success against
the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
| | Flyers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck makes a save as Florida's Pavel Bure, right, skates by the net. |
Lindros scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season and
continued his hot hand against the Panthers in Philadelphia's 6-1
victory. Lindros has more career goals than any player against
Florida, with 20 goals in 24 games.
"Some guys just get up for certain teams," said Philadelphia
coach Roger Neilson. "Obviously, he has had some big games against
them. I don't really have an explanation for it."
The Flyers had their highest goal total of the season and
snapped a two-game road losing streak, moving ahead of the Panthers
and into a tie for first-place with Toronto in the Eastern Conference.
"I don't know if there's anything special about playing them.
We know we were hungry after the way we played (Monday) night against
Tampa Bay," Lindros said, referring to a 4-1 loss to the Lightning.
The Panthers, who lead the Southeast Division, lost for only the second time at home in 11 games.
John Vanbiesbrouck, who spent five seasons in Florida, stopped 21 shots to notch his second win against his former team this year.
Vanbiesbrouck posted one of his three shutouts in a 2-0 win against
the Panthers Oct. 24.
Florida's Mark Parrish spoiled Vanbiesbrouck's shutout bid,
scoring with 9:23 left in the third period.
"We knew we were going up against a strong offensive team, so
it was important to shut them down early," Vanbiesbrouck said.
"When we stopped them early, plus got some quick goals, that really helped us."
The Flyers grabbed a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals in a 37-second span of the first period.
Valeri Zelepukin scored on a rebound off a missed shot by
Daymond Langkow. Florida goalie Trevor Kidd stopped Langkow's
attempt, but Zelepukin got enough of his stick on the puck to
trickle it across the red line. The goal held up under a video review.
"On the first goal, the puck hit me twice," Kidd said. "I was
just trying to get a piece of it and it rolled off my pad. It's frustrating.
"Things didn't go right. I feel bad for the guys that they couldn't battle back."
The Flyers struck again quickly, as Lindros delivered from the
top of the right circle at 10:08 for his ninth goal of the season.
The lead swelled to 3-0 on Mikael Renberg's blast from just
inside the blue line at 12:43.
"In all honesty, once we put up those three goals that quickly,
they were behind the 8-ball. That took the steam out of their
sails."
Renberg's goal chased Kidd, who wound up allowing three goals on
11 shots. It was the first time in his 14 starts that the Panthers
didn't earn a point with Kidd (9-3-2) in net. Both of Kidd's
previous loses came in overtime.
The Flyers added a pair of goals against backup goalie Mikhail
Shtalenkov in the second period to open a 5-0 lead.
Eric Desjardins scored his fifth goal of the season at 2:57, and
Lindros added his second of the night at 17:01.
Jody Hull, another ex-Panther, scored Philadelphia's final goal
to make it 6-1 with 7:29 left.
"Things were going well for them," Panthers coach Terry Murray
said. "They took it to us and we have to regroup. We have some
tough games coming up. We have to get reorganized physically and mentally."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
RECAPS
Buffalo 5 Washington 2
Vancouver 1 Carolina 1
Detroit 4 St. Louis 2
Philadelphia 6 Florida 1
NY Rangers 6 Tampa Bay 3
Boston 5 Nashville 2
Dallas 3 Los Angeles 2
Chicago 3 Edmonton 2
New Jersey 2 Anaheim 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
Renberg scores on the slap shot.
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