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Thursday, Oct. 14 7:30pm ET
Savage's hat trick boosts Habs | |||||
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- One day after a six-hour meeting by the Philadelphia Flyers' brass, their season took another turn for the worse.
Brian Savage scored his third goal of the game with 1:38 left in overtime Thursday night as the Montreal Canadians sent the Flyers to their worst five-game start in franchise history with a 5-4 victory. "We're not going to panic after five games," said coach Roger Neilson, who met with chairman Ed Snider, general manager Bob Clarke and the front office staff Tuesday. "We all know what's at stake," said captain Eric Lindros, who was then asked what that was. "You know that," he said in a near-whisper before walking out of a glum locker room. Saku Koivu intercepted Eric Desjardins' pass intended for Lindros and fed Savage, who rushed in on rookie defenseman Mark Eaton and rookie goaltender Brian Boucher. Eaton knocked the puck away, but Savage managed a shot that went off the post and bounced off Boucher for his sixth goal of the season. "I heard it hit the pipe," Boucher said. "As a goaltender, you try to get your legs out of the way because it can hit your legs and go in, and that's exactly what happened." John LeClair had two goals and an assist for his first three points of the year, and Lindros had a goal and two assists. But Boucher allowed three goals between his legs, one under his right arm and then the ugly game-winner on Montreal's 22nd shot of the game. "Their goalie was definitely under some pressure," Savage said. "He had some bad moments and some good ones. We could sense he was nervous." The Flyers blew a two-goal, second-period lead for their first 0-4-1 start in franchise history. They had started 1-3-1 four times, most recently in 1991 -- the year before Lindros joined the team. Under new NHL rules for overtime, the Flyers get a point for a "regulation tie." Whatever hockey calls it, this sure looked like a loss. "We don't need ties," LeClair said. "We need wins. We need a win as soon as possible." After Patrick Poulin cut the Flyers' lead to 4-3 with a goal between Boucher's pads with 45 seconds left in the second, Montreal tied it 3:39 into the third. Savage scored his second goal of the game on shot from the left circle that also zipped between Boucher's pads 35 seconds into a power play. "He probably let in a couple he'd rather have back, but we didn't give him the protection we should have," Neilson said. While LeClair and Lindros dominated up front for the first time this season, the Flyers' defense proved inadequate again. Desjardins, their best defenseman last season, is minus-6 in the last two games. "It's a real struggle right now," said Neilson, who insisted he felt no pressure about his job. "There's always an urgency to win. That's your whole job to figure out a way to get your team to play its best and win." LeClair scored his first goal 5:54 into the game for his first point of the season. It was Philadelphia's first goal at home in 186 minutes, 16 seconds, going back to Game 4 of the first-round playoff series against Toronto. Neilson said Boucher's debut was planned for this game before John Vanbiesbrouck allowed two goals by Peter Bondra in the final four minutes of a 5-4 loss Tuesday night at Washington. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Montreal Clubhouse Philadelphia Clubhouse RECAPS Atlanta 2 NY Islanders 0
Montreal 5 AUDIO/VIDEO   Brian Savage gets the hat trick and the game-winner.avi: 637 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Eric Lindros feeds John LeClair, who scores.avi: 752 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||
