Devil's Down Flyers

If he had it to do over again, Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ron Hextall would not leave his crease to challenge Steve Thomas, who was bearing down on a breakaway.

Hextall wound up in no man's land when the New Jersey forward nudged the puck past him for the game-winning goal with 6:06 remaining Monday night in the Devils' 4-3 victory. The puck trickled toward the net and none of Hextall's teammates could get to it in time.

Hextall vented his frustration by smashing his goalstick over the crossbar.

"In retrospect, I wish I would have stayed in my net," Hextall said. "It's a breakaway. You make a decision in a millisecond. My decision was off."

HEXTALL'S DECISION TO COME charging out of the net took Thomas by surprise.

"Another goalie might have gone down in a butterfly or gone down on his side and blocked the whole net," Thomas said. "I think maybe he read it wrong. Maybe he thought he had more time. Maybe he made a mistake."

Flyers coach Wayne Cashman refused to second guess Hextall.

"That is the goalie's decision," Cashman said. "He's in the net and he has to decide for himself. He tried to get to it, but the guy poked it by him."

Thomas' goal crushed the Flyers, who mounted a valiant comeback to erase a 3-0 deficit against the stingy Devils.

"THEY CAME BACK HARD AND we were pretty fortunate to get that goal at the end of the game," said Brian Rolston, who scored twice for the Devils. "Steve Thomas made a tremendous effort on it. We're feeling pretty good about it."

Randy McKay also scored to help the Devils continue their season-long mastery of the Flyers. New Jersey has won the three meetings by a combined 13-4.

The victory moved the Atlantic Division-leading Devils 13 points ahead of the runner-up Flyers. The Devils have won seven straight while extending their unbeaten streak to eight.

Chris Gratton, Colin Forbes and Mike Sillinger scored for the Flyers, who have lost six of their last eight (2-6-0).

The Devils scored on the first two shots of the game. Rolston opened the scoring 22 seconds into the contest on the first of his two breakaway goals.

THE GOAL SEEMED TO UNNERVE the Flyers and the Devils swarmed the Philadelphia zone, coming up with McKay's goal only 51 seconds later. The Devils' pressure paid off when McKay drilled a shot from the right dot through Hextall for his first goal in 18 games.

Cashman called timeout after McKay's goal to settle his team. The tactic worked as the Flyers played solidly the rest of the period, outshooting the Devils 10-6.

Rolston scored his second breakaway goal, this time shorthanded, at 16:04 of the second period to give New Jersey a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.

Then the Flyers stormed back with the next three goals. Gratton beat Martin Brodeur with a blast from the right circle with 2:13 remaining in the second period.

In the third, Forbes converted a 2-on-1 reak with Sillinger 32 seconds into the period. Sillinger scored an unassisted goal at 8:20 to pull the Flyers even.