On the fourth, he circled behind defenseman Chris McAllister as he intercepted a pass along the boards near the blue line, allowing the defenseman to walk in with the puck and score. Recchi is, at 33, as complete a player as any in the NHL right now. Bob Clarke, who gets hammered by me at times, should be praised to the heavens for bringing this guy back to Philadelphia for three guys you would be hard-pressed to remember. Watching this line these days, even without the injured Simon Gagne, is like watching a hockey game played in a dream. Passes move crisply across the ice or float perfectly onto intended sticks.
Players fill gaps.
Goals go in not as fortuitous accidents, but because of execution. Keith Primeau's hat trick came in the last minute of play last night. Appropriately, it came after a feathered pass from Mark Recchi, with Brathwaite pulled for an extra skater. Blindly, knowing Primeau would be racing ahead, Recchi flipped the puck towards center ice. Primeau grabbed it from the air, dropped it in front of his stick, and slid it into the empty net.