From: jca2@cec1.wustl.edu (Joseph Charles Achkar)
Subject: Lindros sparks Flyers past Blues 4-2
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 11:46:07 GMT

    The Blues - Flyers game in Philadelphia was not televised in the St.
Louis area. Here's a game summary written by Dave Luecking of the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch staff.

    PHILADELPHIA -- Fighting might be falling out of vogue in the National
Hockey League, but it remains a valuable tactic -- as the Blues found out
Saturday in their 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at the Spectrum.

    With the Blues leading 2-1 midway through the second period, rookie
sensation Eric Lindros grabbed Blues defenseman Lee Norwood and the Flyers
grabbed firm control of the game.

    Lindros jumped Norwood in retaliation after Norwood shoved the Flyers' Gord
Hynes. They wrestled until the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Lindros pulled an arm out of
his jersey and pounded Norwood, sending the Spectrum crowd of 17,380 into a
frenzy and inspiring his teammates.

    ``That's how they turned it around," Norwood said. ``They took the
momentum, and -- boom."

    Lindros somehow avoided an instigator penalty -- he started the fight --
and the inspired Flyers took off. Brent Fedyk scored twice in 62 seconds a few
minutes later, giving the Flyers a 3-2 lead.

    Fedyk later assisted on Lindros' game-clinching, empty-net goal. Former
Blues defenseman Brian Benning scored the Flyers' other goal, and Mark Recchi
had two assists for the winners.

    The victory ended the Flyers' losing streak at seven games (0-5-2). They
improved to to 4-8-3 for 11 points.

    The Blues dropped to 5-8-1 for 11 points, last in the Norris Division. The
loss was their third in a row since a 6-4 victory over the Flyers last Saturday
in St. Louis and dropped them to 1-5 on the road.

    Goals by   Brett Hull and Craig Janney gave the Blues the lead until
Lindros tangled with Norwood.

    Norwood, who is 6-0 and weighs 200, got up from the fight smiling -- he
said only one punch hit him solidly. But he wasn't smiling after the game.

    ``I wrestled a circus bear when I was 20 years old at the Pennsylvania
State Fair in Harrisburg, and that bear was not as strong as that kid," Norwood
said. ``I'm not the first one to be tossed around by a guy 6 inches taller and
40 pounds heavier.

    ``There's something to be said for big forwards."

    The Flyers have plenty of them. Although the Blues' forwards are game and
pesky, they were no match for the Flyers. It took four Blues to subdue Lindros
in a skirmish late in the first period.

    Lindros, Claude Boivin, Kevin Dineen and Rod Brind'Amour threw their weight
around, with Brind'Amour once checking a good buddy, goalie Curtis Joseph,
behind the net. Defenseman Sean Cronin also proved to be a formidable match for
the Blues.

    ``He was challenging guys and they were backing down," Lindros said. ``That
got us all pumped up."

    But nothing pumped up the Flyers like Lindros' bout with Norwood. Though
Lindros earns $3 million a year, he came to the aid of a teammate.

    ``Everyone was pumped up after Eric's fight," said Boivin, a 6-2, 210-
pounder. ``Everybody started pulling the same way, hitting and playing hard."

    Coach Bill Dineen agreed, saying: ``It got the crowd into it and got our
bench into it. It really helped. We played pretty aggressively. There were a
lot of big hits.

    ``We're a big, physical team and we have to take advantage of it."

    Lindros shrugged off the praise, saying that he was just doing his job.

    ``You do what you can to get things going," he said. ``I wouldn't say it
was a jump-start. It was something that had to be done. Every time we got in
front of their net, we were getting the short end of their sticks.  might have
changed it."

    Just over a minute after the fight at 11:06, the Blues' Murray Baron was
penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Blues killed the penalty, but they
got stuck in their zone, and Fedyk buzzed around the net for the tying goal at
14:38.

    Joseph stopped Fedyk's first two shots from the left side, but lost sight
of the puck and it trickled to the far side. Fedyk skated around the net and
put it in for his third goal of the season.

    Then, 1:02 later, Fedyk used Giles as a screen and rifled a 40-footer past
Joseph.

    The Blues fought gamely to pull even, but couldn't get the puck past goalie
Stephane Beauregard, who earned his first victory this season. Beauregard
stopped eight shots unleashed by Hull, frustrating the Blues' star.

    ``With the chances I had, I could have had four myself," Hull said. ``It's
just the way it's going. We lost 8-4 the other night in Pittsburgh. . . . Now,
we only need four  and we can't do it.

    ``We're working hard. Nothing's going our way. We have to keep working."

    Hull, at least, scored on goal, giving the Blues a 1-0 lead with five
minutes to play in the first period. It was vintage Hull, a snap shot over
Beauregard's glove and into the top corner.

    ``That was an unbelievable goal," Beauregard said. ``The pass was bouncing,
and somehow he put it right under the crossbar."

    Benning scored a power-play goal at 5:42 of the second period, tying the
game before Janney restored the Blues' lead with a power-play goal at 9:26.

    Then, 1 minute 40 seconds later, Lindros took over.

    ``He gave them a spark," said Blues defenseman Curt Giles, a former
teammate of Lindros' on the Canadian Olympic team. ``He took control of the
game. He wanted to shake things up, and that's the way he can shake things up.
He can change a game by his physical play or by scoring. He can make things
happen physically. He's big. He takes the body.

    ``He's smart. He knows when things are on the line, and he has to create
something."

    On Saturday, he created a victory for the Flyers.

  %*%*%*%**%*%%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*
  *   __  ______________         ____________________________________    % 
  %   \ \_)____________/         A L L E Z   L E S   B L U E S  ! ! !    * 
  *    \    __________/          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    % 
  %     \    ________/                                                 	 *
  *      \   _______/                  Joe                               % 
  %       \  \         	               Contact for the Blues             *
  *        \  \  SAINT LOUIS           jca2@cec1.wustl.edu               % 
  %        (___)             BLUES                                       * 
  *%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%