Flyers Earn Tie for New Coach

New Philadelphia Flyer Coach Roger Neilson hardly met his players before Tuesday night’s game against the Eastern Conference-leading New Jersey Devils.

But by the end he saw firsthand the problems he has to correct: inconsistent play and lousy defense.

The Devils outshot the Flyers, 35-19, but Philadelphia twice rallied from one-goal deficits and goaltender Ron Hextall stopped a flurry of point-blank shots as the Flyers earned a 2-2 tie at Philadelphia.

“They’re the hottest team in the league right now and we got a tie,” Neilson said a day after he replaced Wayne Cashman as head coach. “We can feel pretty good about that.”

Jason Arnott set up both goals for the Devils but, for the second game in a row, Alexandre Daigle came up with a big goal for the Flyers.

New Jersey extended its undefeated streak to 12 games (8-0-4) and remained 12 points ahead of Philadelphia atop the Atlantic Division. The Flyers have won only four of their last 13 games (4-8-1), a slump that prompted the club to demote Coach Wayne Cashman on Monday.

New York Islanders 2, Buffalo 2--Jason Wooley’s power-play goal at 7:42 of the third period lifted the Sabres to a tie at Uniondale, N.Y.

All four goals were scored on the power play, as referee Richard Trottier issued 16 power-play chances, nine to the Islanders.

Olympic star Dominik Hasek started his fifth consecutive game for the Sabres and stopped 20 shots.

Boston 6, Detroit 3--Tim Taylor had a goal and two assists and the Bruins scored three power-play goals at Detroit to hand the Red Wings their third consecutive loss.

Ray Bourque, Sergei Samsonov, Rob Dimaio, Dmitri Khristich and Anson Carter also scored for the Bruins, who won for the fourth time in their last six games and ended a nine-game losing streak to Detroit that dated to Dec. 31, 1991.

Detroit’s Vyacheslav Kozlov scored twice.