Flyers Finish Pens 4-3 In OT

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 9, 1998 / 12:00 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

Wayne Cashman should have been thrilled. Instead, the Philadelphia Flyers' coach appeared shocked.

After the Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 Sunday night on Alexandre Daigle's overtime goal, Cashman was asked about a Canadian broadcast report that he was going to be replaced by veteran NHL coach Roger Neilson.

"No one talked to me about it," said Cashman, whose team trails first-place New Jersey by 12 points in the Atlantic Division. "They never said anything, and there's no reason for me to ask anything."

Philadelphia general manager Bob Clarke was unavailable for comment on Cashman, who replaced Terry Murray as Philadelphia's coach after the Flyers were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in last year's Stanley Cup finals.

TSN, an all sports television network network in Canada, reported Sunday night that Cashman was going to replaced by Neilson.

Citing two unidentified sources, TSN said Neilson had quit his job as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues and was in Philadelphia awaiting an official announcement that could come as early as Monday.

The Flyers have been a disappointment this season. They are only 7-15-4 against teams with a .500 record or better and have lost 10 of their last 20 games, their worst slump since 1993-94.

But they got an exciting victory Sunday night when Daigle scored on a breakaway with 56.5 seconds left in overtime.

Daigle, obtained from Ottawa on Jan. 17, lifted the puck high over goaltender Ken Wregget from the middle of the slot for his first goal as a Flyer.

Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr scored on a backhander from just outside the right crease with 15 seconds left in the third period to send the game into overtime. His goal came with Wregget pulled for an extra skater just 31 seconds after Shjon Podein had put the Flyers ahead by diving over a prone Wregget and pushing the puck into the net.

Mike Sillinger and John LeClair also scored for the Flyers, and Rod Brind'Amour added three assists. Wewrenka and Martin Straka also scored for Pittsburgh.

The Flyers played without Eric Lindros, who is expected to be out about two weeks after suffering a concussion during Philadelphia's 6-4 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday. Lindros, who leads the Flyers with 67 points, was injured in the second period when he was hit in the chin with a hard shoulder check by Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis.

Kasparaitis paid the price Sunday. In addition to being booed by Philadelphia fans every time he made an appearance on the ice, he was called for three penalties in the first period, including five minutes for fighting with Colin Forbes. LeClair and Chris Gratton also took runs at the Penguins defenseman.

"We stayed in the game and got a couple of bad breaks," Kasparaitis said. "They came at us early and we figured that would happen. Overall I felt we did a good job and proved tht we could battle no matter what was going on out there."

Ron Hextall made 23 saves, including a brilliant stop with his blocker and stick on a penalty shot by Stu Barnes at 15:44 of the first period after Kjell Samuelsson was called for falling on the puck in the crease. It was Hextall's first save in four penalty shots against him in his career with Philadelphia.

Sillinger gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal from the slot at 4:31 of a rough first period which saw a total of 16 penalties for 60 minutes assessed by referee Mick McGeough.

Werenka tied it with a power-play goal on a slap shot from outside the right circle at 3:29 in the second period.

LeClair put the Flyers ahead with his team-leading 39th goal at 8:11 with a tap from the right crease. Straka pulled the Penguins even 1:03 later by lifting a wrist shot over Hextall after taking a pass from Jagr from behind the net.

"We knew that it would be an emotional game," said Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine. "We had our chances and we played a pretty good first period, too."