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Lindros, Flyers Blast Devils


Ron Hextall found himself tied with Bernie Parent and the Philadelphia Flyers finally found a way to win.

With Hextall tying Parent for most

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  • goaltending victories in club history (232), the Flyers snapped a seven-game winless streak with a 6-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

    Eric Lindros had two goals and a three assists as Philadelphia scored five third-period goals.

    "This win means a lot more than the (club) record," said Hextall, who had lost his two previous starts to Ottawa in his quest to catch Parent, who played for the Flyers from 1967-71 and again from 1973-79.

    "It was a really important game for us," added Hextall. "I just kept thinking, `we gotta win, we gotta win,' and that's really what it means. Obviously when you have the same amount of wins as Bernie, it is really an honor. But the win went way beyond that."

    Parent was in goal when Philadelphia won its only two Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. New Jersey coach Robbie Ftorek saluted Hextall's record-tying performance.

    "He (Hextall) looked good tonight," Ftorek said. "He was in control, which is good to see him do that."

    Hextall, who is in his 13th NHL season and 11th with the Flyers, now has a 232-167-54 record with Philadelphia. He is 288-209-65 overall.

    Philadelphia, 0-5-2 in its previous seven, also snapped a two-game losing streak and a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) against the Devils.

    "We weren't getting bounces in the past, but tonight we got some favorale ones," said Lindros.

    The Flyers had scored only four goals in their previous three games despite outshooting their opponents 107-53.

    John LeClair added a pair of goals and an assist for the Flyers, who outshot the Devils 40-18 - including 17-2 in the third period.

    Vadim Sharifijanov scored the first goal of his NHL career for New Jersey.

    It was the most goals allowed this season by the Devils, who had won two straight games and six of their previous seven.

    "They were the hungrier hockey club," New Jersey's Ken Daneyko said. "They came at us hard. We missed checks, we missed people, we passed pucks right on their tape in our end. It is uncharacteristic for our team."

    Keith Jones, playing in his first game for Philadelphia, broke a 1-1 tie when he scored from the slot at 45 seconds of the third period.

    Jones, who, was obtained from Colorado on Nov. 12 in a trade for Shjon Podein, fanned on a wrist shot before spinning around and putting a backhander through the legs of Martin Brodeur for the game-winner.

    After Lindros scored from the slot at 2:54, Rod Brind'Amour added a backhander at 4:13, Lindros scored on a slap shot from the left circle at 11:11, and LeClair added his second goal at 16:18, giving him 10 for the season.

    "That team was due," said New Jersey forward Randy McKay, who assisted on Sharifijanov's goal. "They just got all fired up when they scored their second goal. You could tell that their tempo peaked and they started playing real good hockey."

    LeClair scored his first goal of the game on a power play 19 seconds into the second period, getting a wrist shot past a sprawling Brodeur.

    New Jersey tied it 1-1 at 9:40 of the period when Sharifijanov lifted a slap shot from the left circle high to Hextall's glove side.

    It was the first NHL goal for Sharifijanov, who was recalled from Albany on Nov. 2 and has now scored points in three straight games.

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