Four Score is Lindros Message

Eric Lindros wanted to do something a little special on his return home to Toronto.

All he did was score four goals in the Philadelphia Flyers’ 6-3 victory over the Maple Leafs Wednesday night.

“You’re playing at home, in front of your friends and your family, and it’s always exciting when you do that,” Lindros said. “Maybe the hockey gods are with me. There were a few shots that maybe last Saturday [when Lindros didn’t score in a 7-5 loss to Buffalo] wouldn’t have gone in.”

For Lindros, it was the first four-goal game of his career. He also had two assists.

Mikael Renberg scored the other two goals for the Flyers. In all, the Legion of Doom line, Lindros centering Renberg and John LeClair, accounted for 13 points.

Detroit 4, Boston 1--Larry Murphy scored a goal in his first game with the Red Wings and Igor Larionov had two goals and an assist in the victory at Detroit.

Murphy’s contract was purchased by Detroit from Toronto on Tuesday.

Things didn’t start well for him Wednesday as he got caught in a two-on-one break that led to a goal by Jean-Yves Roy and gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 2:50 into the game.

But Murphy more than made up for it in the second period when he scored on a power play for the first of four unanswered goals by the Red Wings.

Edmonton 3, Tampa Bay 1--Kelly Buchberger scored the winning goal on his 200th NHL point as the Oilers won at Edmonton.

Buchberger’s seventh goal of the season broke a 1-1 tie 3:35 into the third period.

Mariusz Czerkawski added an insurance goal, tucking a wrist shot under the crossbar with less than seven minutes to play.

New York Islanders 7, Florida 4--Robert Reichel, another player making his debut with a new team, scored a goal to help the Islanders win at Uniondale, N.Y.

Reichel, acquired from Calgary in Tuesday’s deadline-beating trade that sent Marty McInnis to the Flames, also set up linemate Zigmund Palffy for two goals.

The third member of the line, Bryan Smolinski, chipped in with two assists.

Dallas 7, Phoenix 2--Joe Nieuwendyk scored twice and Mike Modano matched his career high with four assists as the Stars remained unbeaten at home in their last eight games.

Greg Adams, Darryl Sydor and Neal Broten all had a goal and an assist to help the Stars atone for their last home loss, a 5-0 defeat to the Coyotes on Feb. 12. Since that game, the Stars have gone 7-0-1 at home.

Dave Reid and Todd Harvey also scored for the Stars, who are 8-1-2 in their last 11 games.

New Jersey 2, Washington 2--The Capitals extended their home unbeaten streak to five games as Bill Ranford stopped 29 shots.

Ranford and the Capitals are 4-0-1 at home since the goaltender arrived in a trade with Boston on March 1. Washington is tied with Hartford for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth.

Montreal 5, New York Rangers 4--Vincent Damphousse set up one goal and scored another in the third period as the Canadiens strengthened their playoff hopes by winning at New York.

The Canadiens got off to a 2-0 start and allowed the Rangers to tie them three times before pulling it out on Damphousse’s goal at 10:08 of the third period. Damphousse assisted on Martin Rucinsky’s goal earlier in the period that gave Montreal a 4-3 lead.

Calgary 4, San Jose 2--Jonas Hoglund’s third-period goal snapped a 2-2 tie for the Flames at San Jose.

Dave Gagner lofted a perfect pass to Hoglund in front of the San Jose net and the Calgary rookie got his 19th goal of the season past goaltender Ed Belfour.

Although Calgary held a 34-13 edge in shots, the game remained in question into the third period thanks to solid goaltending from Belfour and a shaky performance from Flame goalie Trevor Kidd.