Oh That Wacky Lindros...
By Michael Dell, editor-in-chief

Trent Klatt scored at 14:59 of the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and help lift the Philadelphia Flyers to an eventual 6-3 win over the New York Rangers in Game Three of the Eastern Conference finals. Eric Lindros did his best to help the Flyer cause by recording his first career hat trick and Ron Hextall was strong in net, stopping 21 Ranger shots. Philadelphia now holds a 2-1 series lead with Game Four at Madison Square Garden scheduled for Friday.

This game was a wild one. Well, at least the third period was zany. The teams combined for seven goals in the third and the game was tied on two separate occasions before the Flyers finally went ahead to stay.

Klatt's game-winning goal came as a result of a mistake by New York's Bruce Driver in the neutral zone. Driver jumped off his stakes at center ice to try and flag down a high Philly clearing attempt only to have the puck bounce off his glove. When Driver landed he was flat-footed and in no shape to catch Klatt, who tracked down the puck and broke in on the right side two-on-one with Shjon Podein against Doug Lidster. In almost an exact replay of Podein's two-on-one goal with Joel Otto in Game Two, Klatt gave the puck up to Podein and then got it right back before wristing a low shot past Mike Richter and just inside the right post.

The goal's timing could not have been any better. It came just 38 seconds after Wayne Gretzky scored his tenth on the postseason to tie the game up at 3-3. The Rangers had just killed a penalty when Hextall gloved an easy shot from Ulf Samuelsson on the rush and dropped it off to his left for Janne Niinimaa. The Finnish rookie blueliner messed up and overskated the puck, allowing Russ Courtnall to pounce on it and dish a sweet little pass to Gretzky in front for a quick shot inside the far left post.

The goal by Gretzky marked the second time the Rangers had fought back to tie the game in the third period. The Flyers entered the final frame with a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Lindros and Petr Svoboda. Courtnall cut the lead in half with a power-play goal just 43 seconds into the third, one-timing a Gretzky pass behind Hextall from the right hash marks. But Courtnall wasn't done. At 4:02 of the period the speedy right winger was left all alone in front of the Flyer net and swatted home a Luc Robitaille rebound, after Lucky Luc and Doug Lidster worked a swell two-on- two rush up ice.

The goals by Courtnall energized the Rangers and brought the sleepy New York crowd to life. But before the Blueshirts could grab the game by the throat, Lindros blasted home his second goal of the game to put the Flyers back in front 3-2 at 6:35. The goal was a direct result of some great hustle by young Dainius Zubrus. The revamped Legion of Doom line was pressuring the puck in the offensive zone when it got sent around the horn up New York's right wing boards. Zubrus went after it hard and shouldered Shane Churla off the puck. Samuelsson skated in to take command but before he could turn and skate it out, Zubrus dove and swept it off his stick. Zubrus' sweep check ended up right on the blade of John LeClair who quickly relayed it to Lindros at the right wing hash marks. That's wrist shot territory. Wrist shot? Lindros don't need no stinking wrist shot. Nope, he wound up and hammered a slap shot over Richter's glove from about ten feet away. That'll learn 'im.

So let's see, Gretzky scored to tie it. Then Klatt put Philly in front at 4-3. That still leaves two goals. Hmm ha... oh yeah, Rod Brind'Amour got a clear breakaway from the red line and put on a freak show. Good ol' Rod had to settle down a rolling puck, then faked a shot, cut across the crease from right to left and buried a wrister behind Richter as the Ranger netminder went down in the splits. The goal came at 16:52 and put the game away. Lindros made the final 6-3 by blowing past Mark Messier and flipping a backhand shot into an empty net in the final minute of regulation.

Impressive Performances

PHILADELPHIA

Rod Brind'Amour: He doesn't get the attention of some of his more well known teammates, but Brind'Amour's been Philly's best player this postseason. His breakaway goal brought a tear to the eye.

Eric Lindros: He was scoreless in the first two games of the series, but not anymore. Lindros continues to show his maturation as a team leader, stepping up with his first career playoff hat trick on the road in a crucial game.

John LeClair: LeClair was a moose along the boards and in the corners. He set up Svoboda's first-period goal with a mad bull rush behind the New York net and then made a nifty pass out to the point. There can be considerable debate on who is better, Lindros or LeClair, but make no mistake that LeClair has much better hands and is the superior skater. This play was a perfect example of all his skills.

Trent Klatt: It seems whenever the Flyers need a big play, Klatt steps up and makes something happen. It was no fluke that he bagged the game-winner. He also knocked Ken Gernander all silly with a clean check in the first period. Klatt is quickly becoming one of the top three or four role players in the league.

Ron Hextall: Hextall had a pretty strong game. He made a memorable save on Brian Leetch in the first period, after Gretzky set the chance up from behind the net. Other saves of note include a left arm stop on a Doug Lidster shot through a screen in the second period, a sprawling, stacked-pad save on Mark Messier in the second, and another big save on a Messier wrister in the third. New York really didn't generate much side-to-side offense, so Hextall's lack of mobility never got exploited.

NEW YORK

Russ Courtnall: Courtnall was an absolute mission man, playing his best game of the postseason. When the dust settled he had two goals and an assist. It's just too bad it all got wasted.

Ulf Samuelsson: Ulf lit up John LeClair with an enormous open-ice hit late in the third period. Anytime someone sends LeClair flyin' to the ice, it's impressive.

Goal Crease Travesty

The Flyers got jobbed by the punk-ass goal crease rule early in the third period, costing them a power-play goal that would have made the score 3-1. LeClair was going hard to the net to get a rebound only to have the puck get accidentally knocked an inch out of the crease by the knob of Richter's stick a split second before he arrived in the paint. Brind'Amour immediately snapped the puck over Richter for what should have been a goal, but the fact that LeClair's skate was in the blue while the puck took its half-second vacation from the crease was enough to wash out the goal. That rule makes me sad...

Garth Snow Dork Update

He didn't play, but yep... he's still a big dork.

Wacky Game Fact

The loss was the first for the Rangers at Madison Square Garden this postseason, dropping their home record to 4-1.

Injuries

New York: The injury list continued to grow. Ken Gernander suffered a concussion early in the first period after getting drilled into the boards on a clean shoulder check from Trent Klatt. Brian Leetch played, but he didn't see anywhere near his normal ice time and appeared to be bothered by the wrist injury he sustained at the end of Game Two after receiving a check from, who else, Trent Klatt.

Philadelphia: The Flyers were all good.

Lines

Philadelphia: Michel Petit was dressed for the first time in a long while and was used as a forward on the fourth line, although that unit was seldom seen.

OFFENSE

LeClair - Lindros - Zubrus
Hawerchuk - Brind'Amour - Renberg
Podein - Otto - Klatt
Kordic - Lacroix - Petit

DEFENSE

Desjardins - Therien
Svoboda - Niinimaa
Coffey - Dykhuis

POWER PLAY

LeClair - Lindros - Brind'Amour - Niinimaa - Coffey
Renberg - Hawerchuk - Zubrus - Desjardins - Dykhuis

SHORT-HANDED

Otto - Podein - Desjardins - Therien
Brind'Amour - Klatt - Svoboda - Dykhuis

New York: Now that his junior season is over, Christian Dube returned to action with the Rangers. He was going to play on a fourth line with Ken Gernander and Darren Langdon, but when Gernander got knocked loopy on the trio's first shift, Dube went on to see spot duty on the power play and even alongside Wayne Gretzky and Esa Tikkanen on the top line in the third period.

New York's defense was handed a severe blow when the club received word earlier in the day that Alexander Karpovtsev's mother had passed away. In the wake of the tragic news, Karpovtsev did not play and was replaced in the lineup by big Eric Cairns. The mammoth blueliner really didn't play much, but was paired with Bruce Driver when he did hit the ice.

OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)

Tikkanen - Messier - Gretzky
Robitaille - Eastwood - Courtnall
Eakins - Graves - Churla
Langdon - Gernander - Dube

DEFENSE

Leetch - Beukeboom
Samuelsson - Lidster
Driver - Cairns

POWER PLAY

Gretzky - Messier - Dube - Leetch - Driver
Robitaille - Graves - Tikkanen - Leetch - Lidster

SHORT-HANDED

Messier - Graves - Leetch - Beukeboom
Eastwood - Tikkanen - Samuelsson - Lidster

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