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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- John LeClair is enjoying himself immensely
these days and his Philadelphia teammates are happy to go along for the ride.
| | Blues goalie Jamie McLennan makes a save on a shot by Philadelphia's Mark Recchi, left. |
LeClair scored two goals, including the game-winner with 4:35
left in the third period, as the Flyers beat St. Louis 3-2 to take
over first place in the Eastern Conference on Sunday.
"We're really on a roll and it's been fun," LeClair said after
the Flyers stretched their overall unbeaten streak to six games
(5-0-1) and their undefeated home streak to eight (7-0-1).
LeClair, who leads the Flyers with 14 goals, took a pass from Eric Lindros behind the net, skated around Chris Pronger, and
stuffed the puck past the glove of St. Louis backup goaltender
Jamie McLennan.
"LeClair made a real nice play on that goal and that was the
difference," said St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville. "The Flyers
beat you with size and strength, that's their bread and butter."
Mark Recchi had a goal and an assist and Simon Gagne added two
assists for the Flyers.
Pavol Demitra, who also had an assist for St. Louis, had scored
a goal with 7:59 left in the third period to tie the game at 2.
Scott Young scored the other goal for the Blues, who had their
four-game winning streak snapped. It was only the second loss in
the last 12 games for St. Louis (8-2-2), which remained tied with
Detroit for the Central Division lead but missed a chance to move
into first place in the Western Conference.
LeClair scored his 13th goal of the season to give the Flyers a
1-0 lead on a power play at 3:34 of the period, redirecting Gagne's
slap shot from the right point.
The Blues tied it on a power play of their own 35 seconds later.
Demitra dug the puck out behind the net and dumped it to Young in
front of the crease who tapped it past goalie Brian Boucher.
"Boucher played just great," said Flyers' captain Eric
Lindros, who assisted on the winning goal. "He was much more
decisive tonight."
Recchi regained the lead for the Flyers with a picture-perfect
goal at 6:15 of the first period. He picked up a loose puck near
the boards, skated in to top of the slot, spun around and snapped a
wrist shot high over McLennan.
Recchi, who leads the NHL with 25 assists, has scored at least
one point in seven straight games and has recorded four goals and seven assists during that span.
Pierre Turgeon, who played in his 900th NHL game, had an assist for the Blues and has now registered 14 points in his last eight games. But the veteran center was denied on a great scoring opportunity when Boucher stopped his point-blank shot from the slot early in the second period.
"We had our chances but the Flyers played real well in the neutral zone and caused a lot of turnovers," said Turgeon, who has scored 49 points in 43 career games against Philadelphia.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Philadelphia Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
John LeClair's second goal of the game was the game-winner.
avi: 648 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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