Bruins And Philly Dead Even

The Philadelpia Flyers finally scored a goal and the Boston Bruins avoided their worst start in 35 years.

Mark Recchi scored Philadelphia's first goal of the season 6:42 into the second period to lift the Flyers to a 1-1 tie with the Bruins on Saturday night.

P.J. Axelsson scored for the Bruins, who are 0-3-1 and avoided matching their worst start since losing their first four games in 1964.

They didn't win, but the Bruins were happy to finally earn a point.

"I didn't know it worked that way," Allison said when informed that the NHL's new overtime rule earned Boston a point even if it lost the game in OT. "(Assistant GM) Mike (O'Connell) told me we had a point before it started."

As for the Flyers, their offense awoke for its first goal of the season, avoiding being shut out three straight games for the first time in franchise history.

"Players were pretty happy when the goal went in," Philadelphia coach Roger Neilson said. "We didn't score in our last exhibition game, either. Ten periods is a long time without a goal."

Philadelphia went 146:42 before its first goal.

"We have to start somewhere," Flyers defenseman Eric Desjardins said. "We had some pretty good scoring chances."

The Bruins had a power play in overtime when Eric Lindros was whistled for hooking, but failed to get a shot on goal.

Axelsson gave Boston a 1-0 lead 46 seconds into the game when he took a pass from Joe Tornton and flipped a short shot by Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who made 21 saves.

Philadelphia took advantage of a power-play opportunity to tie the game on Recchi's goal, a wrist shot over the shoulder of goalie John Grahame.

Grahame made 28 saves for the Bruins, who continued to play without last season's Vezina Trophy finalist Byron Dafoe. The Bruins' No. 1 goalie is unsigned and attempting to negotiate a new contract with the club.

"It was very exciting," Grahame said. "I wanted to give the fans something to cheer about."

Late in the second period with the teams skating four aside, the Flyers had an excellent opportunity to break the tie when John LeClair intercepted the puck from defenseman Don Sweeney. LeClair broke in alone on Grahame, but was robbed on a wrist shot and again on his own rebound with 15 seconds left.

"I tried to stand up, be aggressive and make him make the first move," said Grahame, mobbed by his teammates as he skated to the bench when the horn sounded at the end of the period.

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