Secret Weapon Semenov Gets Winning Goal for Flyers

Philadelphia brought out its secret weapon for Wednesday night’s showdown against Florida.

Anatoli Semenov.

Just for good measure, the Flyers also had Eric Lindros.

It added up to a 4-2 victory for the Flyers, who got the winning goal from part-timer Semenov.

Lindros delivered a clutch score with eight minutes left to nail down the victory at Miami.

The victory evened the season series at 2-2-1. The Flyers inched closer to the Panthers for second place in the Atlantic Division, moving within six points.

The victory came at a price: The Flyers lost center Joel Otto to a left knee sprain in the second period. Otto, who has 31 points, will be re-evaluated Thursday.

John LeClair and Semenov scored goals in the first 10 minutes of the second period as Philadelphia snapped a 1-1 tie.

Florida closed to 3-2 on Paul Laus’ goal two minutes into the third period, but Lindros added his goal, which gave him 77 points for the season.

Philadelphia opened the scoring with a goal by Dan Quinn.

Florida answered quickly on defenseman Ed Jovanovski’s seventh goal. Jovanovski carried the puck behind the net, brought it out front and slipped it past goalie Ron Hextall.

Boston 3, Hartford 0--Bill Ranford made 20 saves and the Bruins scored a goal in each period in the game at Hartford.

Rick Zombo, Rick Tocchet and Ted Donato had goals as the Bruins snapped a three-game losing streak.

The outcome spoiled the homecoming for the Whalers, who just returned from a West Coast swing with their most successful road trip in team history (5-1) and were riding a five-game win streak.

Toronto 4, San Jose 3--Mats Sundin’s backhander with 7:33 remaining won the game for the Maple Leafs at Toronto.

Jeff Odgers’ second goal of the game only 21 seconds later set up a tight finish.

Mike Gartner, with his 26th and 27th goals, and Doug Gilmour also scored for the Leafs, who have won two in a row after a 2-8-3 slide.

Jamie Baker also scored for the Sharks, 13-38-5, and Chris Tancill had three assists, giving him 14 points in his last eight games.

NHL Notes

The Hartford Whalers will have to play without forward Kevin Dineen for about six weeks while he recovers from a broken right wrist. . . . New York Ranger goaltender Mike Richter, out since early January because of a groin strain, has been reactivated.