Philadelphia Is Shutout City

The Philadelphia Flyers aren’t only winning, they’re not even being scored on.

Their 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday at Philadelphia was their fourth shutout in a row. They haven’t been scored on in 262 minutes 30 seconds.

“You know the wheels are going to come loose sooner or later,” Flyer Coach Terry Murray said.

The Flyers got 24 saves from goalie Ron Hextall to remain unbeaten through 10 games at 9-0-1. They haven’t had a streak like this since going 12-0-2 in 1987.

But the Flyers have a long way to go to reach the team record of 35 consecutive games (25-0-10) without a loss. That came in 1979-80, and it is also an NHL record.

The NHL record for consecutive shutouts is six, achieved by Alex Connell of Ottawa during the 1927-28 season. He also blanked the opposition for a league-record 461:29 in that run. But rules at that time prohibited forward passing in the offensive zone, reducing goal-scoring opportunities.

Subsequent to a rules change that opened up the game, George Hainsworth of the Montreal Canadiens went 343:05 without giving up a goal. He is one of three other goalies with four consecutive shutouts.

The slumping Blues, 0-2 since they replaced Mike Keenan as coach with Jim Roberts, are 0-5-1 in their last six games and 2-8-1 in their last 11.

New York Rangers 3, Montreal 2--Luc Robitaille scored off Wayne Gretzky’s behind-the-net pass 42 seconds into overtime to give the streaking Rangers a victory at Montreal.

Mike Richter stopped 27 shots as the Rangers improved to 9-1-1 in their last 11 games.

The Rangers had not beaten the Canadiens in Montreal since Oct. 5, 1991, going 0-8-1.

Toronto 6, Colorado 2--Mats Sundin recorded the fifth hat trick of his career and Doug Gilmour added three assists to lead the Maple Leafs to a rare road victory at Denver.

David Cooper got his first NHL goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have lost more road games (13) than any other team in the league.

Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy was lifted with 5:47 left in the third period after having given up six goals on 39 shots.

Pittsburgh 3, San Jose 1--Mario Lemieux scored a goal and set up J.J. Daigneault’s game-winner in the third period as the Penguins beat the Sharks at Pittsburgh.

The Penguins (16-15-3) are on a 10-2-2 streak that has lifted them above .500 for the second time this season.

Boston 4, Washington 3--Rob DiMaio had his first multiple-goal game of the season with two, including the game-winner with 56 seconds to play, and the Bruins beat the Capitals at Boston. Goalie Rob Tallas made his first start of the season because Bill Ranford was sick with flu.

Dallas 3, New York Islanders 2--Joe Nieuwendyk’s goal with 1:45 left gave the Stars their fourth road victory in a row.

Hartford 6, Tampa Bay 5--Robert Kron scored 2:11 into overtime to give the Whalers a victory over the Lightning at Hartford.

Buffalo 3, Ottawa 2--Mike Peca stole the puck from the Senators’ Janne Laukkanen and scored unassisted at 8:32 of the third period to lift the Sabres at Ottawa.

The Sabres didn’t arrive at their hotel in Ottawa until 4:30 a.m. Saturday because their flight was delayed by mechanical problems.