Vanbiesbrouck Stars in Lindros’ Return

Thursday’s game at Philadelphia between the Flyers and the New York Islanders featured the return of Eric Lindros from a concussion, but quickly turned into the John Vanbiesbrouck Show, again.

Vanbiesbrouck extended his career-high undefeated streak to 10 games (6-0-4) in the Flyers’ 5-0 victory.

“I don’t look at it as an individual role,” said Vanbiesbrouck after making 27 saves to record his 33rd career shutout, his third this season. “My stats are the stats of the team and vice versa.”

Vanbiesbrouck, who signed a two-year $10.75-million deal with the Flyers in the offseason, also said it was especially gratifying to defeat the Islanders, whose only two Atlantic Division victories have come against Philadelphia.

Lindros did make his presence felt in his first game since suffering a concussion in Calgary on Dec. 29 with a goal and two assists. But even Lindros knew who Thursday’s star was.

“Beezer was unbelievable,” Lindros said. “He played just fantastic. Normally he just sits back and quietly makes all the stops. Tonight he was spectacular. He was really putting on a show.”

Colin Forbes, Mark Greig, Daniel McGillis, and Keith Jones also scored for the Flyers, 7-0-5 in their last 12 games.

Islander goaltender Tommy Salo was lifted with 12:08 left in the third period after giving up five goals on 21 shots.

Asked why Salo was pulled, Islander Coach Mike Milbury said, “I wanted to wake people up and I didn’t want to risk any more embarrassment.”

Pittsburgh 4, Carolina 2--Jaromir Jagr set up goals on the Penguins’ first three power plays and they held on at Pittsburgh for their fifth consecutive victory.

Tom Barrasso turned aside Sami Kapanen’s penalty shot with 1:06 left in the third period.

The Penguins also spoiled the return of Ron Francis, who was honored in a brief pregame ceremony and presented with his framed Penguin jersey by his former teammates. Francis, who signed as a free agent with Carolina last summer, had been with the Penguins since March 1991 and was captain on Pittsburgh’s two Stanley Cup championship teams.

Edmonton 7, Phoenix 1--Dean McAmmond had a goal and two assists for the Oilers at Phoenix.

Rem Murray, Boyd Devereaux, Bill Guerin, Andrei Kovalenko, Mats Lindgren and Georges Laraque also scored for the Oilers, who had ended Phoenix’s 14-game unbeaten streak--second longest in the NHL this season--with a 4-3 victory on Dec. 2.

Edmonton is only 2-9-3 since then, but had little trouble defeating the Coyotes for the fifth time in the last six meetings.

Montreal 4, Tampa Bay 1--Shayne Corson scored two goals and the Canadiens won at home for the first time in more than a month.

Sergei Zholtok and former Lightning player Patrick Poulin also scored for Montreal, which last won at home Nov. 30 against the Kings. Since ending an 11-game winless streak in Toronto on Dec. 26, the Canadiens are 5-1-0.

Vladimir Malakhov assisted on all four Montreal goals.

Washington 5, New York Rangers 1--The Capitals had four goals in the second period at Washington.

The Capitals, playing the first of seven games over a 12-day stretch, went ahead on Jan Bulis’ goal 33 seconds into the second period.

Craig Berube, Ken Klee and Sergei Gonchar then followed with goals against Mike Richter as the Capitals outshot the Rangers, 15-3, in the period.

Boston 2, Toronto 1--Dmitri Khristich’s goal at 7:13 into the third period lifted the Bruins to victory at Boston.

Despite leading the NHL in scoring, Toronto managed one goal for the third time in seven games.

St. Louis 4, Chicago 2--Pavol Demitra scored on a backhander with 5:20 to go as the Blues erased an early two-goal deficit at St. Louis.

Doug Gilmour scored his first two road goals of the season for the Blackhawks, 2-8-2 in their last 12 games.

San Jose 4, Nashville 3--Ronnie Stern scored on a soft shot in front of the net early in the third period for the Sharks at Nashville.

San Jose, 6-2-2 in its last 10 games, had lost its first two games against Nashville this season. Nashville had tied the game, 3-3, 4:53 into the third period, but Stern found himself in front of the Predators’ net a minute later and scored his fifth goal of the season .