From: seth@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (peter.r.clark..jr)
Subject: FLYERS notes 1/11 (late)
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 21:28:30 GMT



Tommy Soderstrom got his first career shutout in his 12th consecutive start
as the FLYERS defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 without the services of Eric
Lindros, sidelined with a swollen knee.

Injuries:

Lindros showed up at the dressing room with a swollen knee and was scratched.
They weren't sure exactly how it happenned, but they drained it and he's day
to day. (my speculation: unless there's something big, he'll be back Thu.)

Lines:

Fedyk-Recchi-Paslawski
Eklund-Brind'Amour-Dineen
Evans-Acton-Brown
Lomakin-Snuggerud

Cronin goes in as 7th defenseman.

Soderstrom, finally above .500, gets 12th straight start. Tied (3 way) for
2nd in save %age at .899 (Vernon and somebody else) behind Belfour.

Got some notes on the special teams units early on in the game. The FLYERS
dropped to 22nd killing penalties after killing only 3 of 4 against the
Rangers. The Oilers came in 17th with the advantage. On the other side,
the FLYERS came in 19th on the power play, Oilers were 18th killing. The
FLYERS also came in 10th in league at home on power plays. Remember that
going into the Kings game on Dec. 29 the FLYERS were 24th in both categories!

It was a scoreless 1st period. The FLYERS outshot the Oilers 13-8, and really
only gave up one good scoring chance while coming up with a couple of their
own, including a 46 second 5 on 3 power play that they failed to convert.

Moments into the second period, Rod Brind'Amour carried into the offensive
zone and shot from outside the left circle. The shot missed, and Eklund picked
up the loose puck in the right corner. He passes to Terry Carkner at the point
and Carkner makes a nice move to get past an Oiler defender. He the tried to
pass to Eklund just inside the right circle. The puck went off his skate,
but Dineen was right there to pick it up and he one timed it past Ron Tugnutt
for the 1-0 FLYERS lead at :40 of the second period.

The FLYERS kept coming. Brent Fedyk carried in with Mark Recchi off a pass
from Paslawski two on the goaltender, but a diving Oiler defenseman broke
up the pass. Fedyk recovers, though, in the left corner and centers to Recchi
in the slot and he beats Tugnutt on a bang-bang play at 2:00 of the second.
2-0 FLYERS.

The Oilers finally start to put a little pressure on Soderstrom, but he's
equal to the task. Then, late in the period Fedyk passed out of the FLYERS
zone to Paslawski who carried through the neutral zone. As he approached the
Oiler blue line in the middle he passed to Fedyk along the left boards, who
dropped to Recchi just inside the blue line. He tried to send it through to
Paslwaski crashing the net from the right. Paslawski originally got credit
for redirecting it into the net, but the replay clearly showed that the puck
went off the skate of Dave Manson and past Tugnutt, as Gary Dornhoefer (who
does color when Clement is busy with ESPN) had thought from the first time he
saw it. It took a while to find a replay angle to prove it, though. Recchi
moved into 3rd place in league scoring with that point, and well on his way
to his first 100 point season as a FLYER. That was at 14:51, and it was
3-0 FLYERS after 2 periods. The third time in as many games that the FLYERS
had jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Oilers outshot the FLYERS 16-7 in the period!

In the third period, the FLYERS got another 5 on 3, this time 44 seconds, but
failed to convert. With time running out in the remaining 5 on 4, Paslawski
carried into the left side of the offensive zone. He dropped to Dmitri
Yushkevich who slid the puck across to Gary Galley at the right point. Galley
fires a slap shot that Dineen deflected in front of the net and in but 1
second after the man advantage expired. 4-0 FLYERS clearly in control at 8:39.

And that was the way it ended, although not without an Oiler flurry near the
end to try and break up the shutout. The FLYERS gave up two power plays in the
last 5:14 of the game, but killed them off and ended up a perfect 5 for 5
killing penalties, but a disappointing oh-fer-four on the advantage.

Soderstrom made 29 saves for the shutout, surely putting him at least alone
in 2nd in league save %age. He's now 6-4-2, and has really only had one bad
game, that being the game in Calgary. And in all fairness, it was only one
bad period, but it was bad enough to knock the FLYERS out of the game. The
FLYERS had gone 42 games without shutting out the Oilers. More facts, it was
the first FLYERS home shutout since Pete Peeters on Nov 17 1990, and their
first shutout anywhere since March 1, 1992 (I assume Hextall).

So the FLYERS go 3-0-0 so far on the home stand, at the time they were still
7 points out of a playoff spot, but also tied for 5th (ahead by %age points)
place, and they were only 7 points out of 3rd place as well since the Rangers
had not been keeping pace and dropped into a tie with those Devils. Since then
the Rangers picked up a point against Vancouver and moved up to 8 in front
of the FLYERS and in 3rd place. The FLYERS are now just three games under
.500, 12-6-2 at home.

Next up it's the Calgary Flames at the Spectrum Thursday night. After an
incredible night in the Montreal Forum Saturday night, I'm PUMPED for that
game in a big way! Yes, I was at the Forum this weekend, saw the Maple Leafs
defeat those Habs in a great game at an incredible place to see one! The
Flames are the 2nd best road team in the NHL, but they'll be playing their
second game in two nights so hopefully they'll be a little worn out.

That's all for now.

pete clark jr - rsh FLYERS contact and mailing list owner