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Lightning, Flyers Create Room Atop East - Velvet - 03-04-2004

8 minutes ago

By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer

And then there were two. For now, at least.



The four-team tie atop the Eastern Conference was cut in half Wednesday night when the Philadelphia Flyers (news) and Tampa Bay Lightning (news) each moved two points ahead.


Philadelphia beat the Nashville Predators 5-2, and Tampa Bay kept pace with a 5-3 win at Chicago.


"We didn't have a tremendous amount of energy, but we found a way to grind it out," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said.


That left the Ottawa Senators (news) and Toronto Maple Leafs (news) — the Northeast Division co-leaders — with 84 points. Ottawa failed to stay in the conference lead by dropping a 4-3 decision at Buffalo.


"We knew it was a big game," Senators forward Mike Fisher said. "We have to start winning and create some space, but it's tough."


In other NHL games, it was Detroit 2, Calgary 1; New Jersey 5, Florida 2; Dallas 4, Columbus 2; Vancouver 5, Colorado 5; San Jose 4, Montreal 3; and Anaheim 2, Minnesota 0.


The Maple Leafs slipped backward on a day they didn't play, but took a big step forward by acquiring star defenseman Brian Leetch from the New York Rangers (news). Boston, two points behind Toronto and Ottawa in the Northeast, landed defenseman Sergei Gonchar from Washington.


Philadelphia got a goal and two assists each from former Chicago teammates Alex Zhamnov and Tony Amonte in its pivotal win. Zhamnov has seven points in six games with the Flyers since he was acquired last month. Amonte was a trade-deadline acquisition a year ago.


"He's great to play with," said Amonte, who spent six seasons with Zhamnov in Chicago. "He controls the puck so much, teams have to pay attention to him."


Kim Johnsson had two goals and an assist for the Flyers, who snapped a three-game winless streak. Robert Esche, who missed 10 games with a left knee injury, stopped 22 shots to record his first victory since Jan. 31.


Vincent Lacavalier, Cory Sarich and Ruslan Fedotenko each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, 9-0-0-2 in their last 11 and 21-2-1-4 in 28. Fredrik Modin also scored for Tampa Bay, Martin St. Louis had two assists, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 27 saves for the Lightning.


"You've got so many guys playing well offensively," forward Brad Richards said. "It doesn't hurt when you have six guys going all the time, getting a goal or two a night by two lines. We all feed off each other."


Daniel Alfredsson scored twice and Marian Hossa added a goal for the Senators, but it wasn't enough to hold off the also-ran Sabres despite a 3-2 lead.


"We had a game in hand we let slip away," Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said.


Red Wings 2, Flames 1


At Detroit, Manny Legace made 28 saves to lift the host Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg and Mark Mowers scored for Detroit.





Jarome Iginla had Calgary's goal, and Roman Turek made 20 saves.

Devils 5, Panthers 2

Patrik Elias scored two second-period goals, and Scott Gomez had a goal and four assists in New Jersey's road victory.

Brian Gionta and Scott Niedermayer also scored for New Jersey, and Martin Brodeur had 27 saves as the Devils broke a three-game losing streak.

Marcus Nilson and Juraj Kolnik scored for Florida.

Stars 4, Blue Jackets 2

At Dallas, Bill Guerin scored three goals and Ron Tugnutt stopped 15 shots in a rare start as the Stars stretched their home unbeaten streak to 12 games.

Guerin registered his third hat trick of the season to reach the 30-goal mark for the fourth time. Dallas improved to 8-0-4 in its last 12 home games, the NHL's longest current streak.

Stu Barnes also scored and Jason Arnott had three assists for the Stars, 5-0-1 in the first six games of an eight-game homestand.

Rick Nash scored his 35th and 36th goals, both on the power play, but the Blue Jackets' three-game winning streak ended.

Canucks 5, Avalanche 5

Marek Malik and Mattias Ohlund scored third-period goals to rally visiting Vancouver.

Joe Sakic had three goals, for his 14th hat trick, and an assist for the Avalanche, and Alex Tanguay had two goals and three assists to tie his career high for points in a game.

Sharks 4, Canadiens 3

At San Jose, Calif., former Montreal captain Vincent Damphousse had a goal and two assists in the Sharks' franchise-record eighth straight home victory.

Brad Stuart had a career-high three points with a goal and two assists, and Marco Sturm and Niko Dimitrakos also scored in the Sharks' fifth win in six games overall. San Jose snapped Montreal's five-game winning streak with a season-high three power-play goals.

Yanic Perreault, Andrei Markov and Mike Ribeiro scored for the Canadiens.

Mighty Ducks (news) 2, Wild 0

At Anaheim, Calif., Samuel Pahlsson scored two goals and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 28 saves to lead the Mighty Ducks, who have won eight of nine home games.

The Ducks are 6-0-1 in their last seven meetings against Minnesota, including two wins and tie this season and last year's sweep in the playoffs.

The Wild are winless in five games (0-4-1).

Lightning, Flyers Create Room Atop East - Ironcandle - 03-05-2004

I have GOT to learn the rules to that game one of these days. :unsure:

Lightning, Flyers Create Room Atop East - Jimmy - 03-07-2004

Quote:Originally posted by Ironcandle@Mar 5 2004, 08:57 AM
I have GOT to learn the rules to that game one of these days.  :unsure:
What would you like to know?

Lightning, Flyers Create Room Atop East - Ironcandle - 03-07-2004

Quote:Originally posted by jimmygone+Mar 6 2004, 04:58 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jimmygone @ Mar 6 2004, 04:58 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-Ironcandle@Mar 5 2004, 08:57 AM
I have GOT to learn the rules to that game one of these days.&nbsp; :unsure:
What would you like to know? [/b][/quote]
When somebody comes skating around the goal with the puck, how come the goalie doesn't smack him with that big putter?

Lightning, Flyers Create Room Atop East - Jimmy - 03-07-2004

:o Because dat is illegal! Also because if he's busy whacking the guy his stick is nowhere near the puck and the guy can score or pass easily to another forward in front of the net. It is up too the defencemen or a backchecking forward to take the guy out. :lol:

Lightning, Flyers Create Room Atop East - Ironcandle - 03-08-2004

Seems a crying shame to have that big ass stick and not use it somehow.

Lightning, Flyers Create Room Atop East - Jimmy - 03-08-2004

You've obviously never seen Cujo or the Eagle play, have you? :lol: