Flyers Still Very Much at Home on the Road

Home-ice advantage?

Don’t try convincing the Philadelphia Flyers that there’s such a thing.

Behind Eric Lindros’ two goals, the Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals, 5-3, Saturday night at Landover, Md., for their 22nd road victory of the season, tying the franchise record set during the 1973-74 season.

Philadelphia, owner of the league’s best road record, extended its unbeaten string to five games (4-0-1).

John LeClair also scored for the Flyers, getting his league-leading 49th goal.

Edmonton 3, Phoenix 1--Steve Kelly’s first NHL goal turned out to be the game-winner at Phoenix, where goaltender Curtis Joseph’s 35 saves helped Edmonton vault over the Coyotes into fourth place in the Western Conference.

Andrei Kovalenko and Mariusz Czerkawski also scored for the Oilers, who beat the Coyotes for the third time in as many meetings this season.

Dallas Drake had the lone goal for Phoenix, which lost for only the second time in seven games.

But the Coyotes haven’t enjoyed that kind of success at home. Saturday’s loss dropped their record in Phoenix to 14-19-6.

Toronto 3, Colorado 2--Sergei Berezin and Mike Johnson scored in the final six minutes, enabling the Maple Leafs to complete a two-game sweep this season at Denver.

Toronto had scored only three goals in its previous three games.

Goaltender Felix Potvin made 34 saves as he outdueled Craig Billington, 1-6-1 lifetime against the Maple Leafs. Billington was in net for Patrick Roy, who was held out because of a sore left shoulder.

Hartford 2, New York Rangers 1--Goaltender Sean Burke made 25 saves in the Whalers’ first home game since they announced their intention to move after this season.

Despite local bitterness over the move, the game drew a sellout of 14,660.

One of several signs Hartford fans addressed to Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland and Whaler owner Peter Karmanos read: “To Gov. Rowland and Mr. Karmanos, thanks for nothing.”

New York captain Mark Messier sat out the game because of a stiff knee.

Vancouver 5, Calgary 2--Trevor Linden had a short-handed goal and an assist at Calgary in a game that helped the Canucks stay close in the chase for a playoff spot.

It was the league-leading 18th short-handed goal given up by Calgary.

With the victory, the Canucks (32-39-5) moved within three points of Calgary (32-36-8) and idle Chicago, who are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks have one game in hand.

Vancouver is unbeaten in its last four games (3-0-1).

Ottawa 5, Montreal 2--Shawn McEachern scored two early third-period goals at Kanata, Canada, to clinch the victory that moved the Senators within one point of the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining.

Ottawa beat Montreal three times and tied the Canadiens twice this season.

Jose Theodore got the surprise start in the Montreal net, the 20-year-old rookie’s first starting assignment in 11 games. He lasted into the fourth minute of the third period, when Montreal Coach Mario Tremblay replaced him with Jocelyn Thibault after McEachern’s two goals.

New York Islanders 8, Boston 2--Zigmund Palffy had three goals at Uniondale, N.Y., to lead his team to within a point of a playoff berth.

Palffy also assisted on the second of two first-period goals by linemate Bryan Smolinski.

Palffy got his third career hat trick by scoring three times in the second period to give him 44 goals this season.

The loss was Boston’s sixth in a row.

Tampa Bay 1, Florida 1--Tampa Bay goaltender Daren Puppa stopped 28 shots at Miami in only his third appearance of the season.

A finalist for the Vezina Trophy last season as the Lightning made the playoffs for the first time, Puppa had back surgery in November to repair a herniated disk and didn’t play again until an ill-fated start at Washington six weeks ago.