Flyers Pound Panthers
Eric Lindros continued his success against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
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 in the Eastern Conference.
|
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 scord 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 score 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."
©1999 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed