LeClair Scores Four in 9-5 Flyer Rout

John LeClair scored four goals, giving him 14 in 10 games against his former team, to power the Philadelphia Flyers to a 9-5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Philadelphia.

LeClair, who blossomed into a 50-goal scorer after being traded to Philadelphia by the Canadiens Feb. 8, 1995, has 33 goals this season after scoring 51 last season. The hat trick was the fifth of his career, all with the Flyers.

It was also a good night for LeClair’s linemates on the reunited Legion of Doom. Mikael Renberg had a career-high five points on a goal and four assists, while Eric Lindros had a goal and four assists.

The Canadiens got two goals and an assist from Valeri Bure.

Vancouver 7, Detroit 4--With a Joe Louis Arena crowd of 19,983 primed for his 1,000th regular-season win, Scotty Bowman instead was stuck with loss No. 452.

Martin Gelinas scored three goals, two in the third period, as the Canucks defeated Bowman’s Red Wings at Detroit.

No coach in NHL history has won 1,000 games. Bowman’s nearest rival, Al Arbour, retired with 781 wins. Bowman is 999-452-255 in regular-season games, 162-101 in playoff games.

Alex Mogilny, Jyrki Lumme and Mike Ridley also scored for Vancouver. Vyacheslav Kozlov, Kirk Maltby, Sergei Fedorov and Joe Kocur scored for Detroit.

Buffalo 1, Florida 1--Dominik Hasek made 32 consecutive saves after allowing a goal on the first shot as the Sabres skated to the tie with the Panthers at Buffalo.

Bill Lindsay had beaten Hasek with a wristshot early in the game before the two-time Vezina Trophy winner shut out the Panthers the rest of the way.

Donald Audette scored in the second period for the Sabres, who extended their unbeaten streak to five games.

St. Louis 6, Dallas 4--Brett Hull scored three goals and his line produced five goals and six assists as the Blues beat the Stars at St. Louis.

Geoff Courtnall had a goal and three assists, Pierre Turgeon had a goal and two assists and Hull had an assist for the Blues, who are 8-4-1 under new coach Joel Quenneville.

Hull got his 30th, 31st goals and 32nd goals for his 28th career hat trick.

Joe Nieuwendyk got his 20th goal and an assist and Sergei Zubov got his 200th career assist for Dallas.

Hartford 5, Boston 3--Andrew Cassels scored twice in a six-minute span of the third period as the Whalers broke a three-game losing streak with the win at Boston.

Boston’s Rick Tocchet scored the 350th goal of his career.

Phoenix 3, Chicago 2--Keith Tkachuk scored with 1:08 remaining in regulation to lift the Coyotes over the Blackhawks at Phoenix.

Darrin Shannon and Craig Janney also scored for the Coyotes. Ethan Moreau and Brent Sutter scored for the Blackhawks.

NHL Notes

The Kings sent goalie Jamie Storr and forward Roman Vopat back to their minor league affiliate, the Phoenix Roadrunners. . . . The Washington Capitals signed defenseman Ken Klee to a three-year contract. Terms were not disclosed. . . . The Phoenix Coyotes traded center Mike Eastwood and minor league defenseman Dallas Eakins to the New York Rangers for defenseman Jayson More. . . . The Pittsburgh Penguins can move ahead with plans to renovate the Civic Arena after a regional tax board reversed itself and approved a $12.9 million grant.