Devils Take Advantage of Lindros’ Absence

Playing without their best player and captain, the Philadelphia Flyers didn’t have much of a chance against first-place New Jersey on Saturday night at Philadelphia.

Patrik Elias had a goal and an assist and Martin Brodeur made 30 saves as the Devils won the Atlantic Division showdown over the Flyers, 4-1, ending the Flyers’ 15-game home unbeaten streak.

New Jersey leads Philadelphia by five points.

Philadelphia, which had gone 12-0-3 during its run, the longest in the NHL this season, played without Eric Lindros, who sustained the third concussion of his career at Atlanta on Friday night and will miss about a week.

“When you’re missing your best player and your captain it’s going to affect you,” Brodeur said. “The Flyers still played a good game. They played hard.”

Florida 5, Tampa Bay 2--Pavel Bure and Rob Niedermayer each had a goal and an assist and Mikhail Shtalenkov made 24 saves as the Panthers defeated the Lightning at Tampa, Fla.

Nashville 4, Pittsburgh 2--Patric Kjellberg scored two goals and Cliff Ronning got his 24th point in 24 games, leading the Predators to a victory over the Penguins at Nashville.

Calgary 4, Toronto 0--Fred Brathwaite made 25 saves to tie Ottawa’s Ron Tugnutt for the NHL lead with four shutouts as the Flames won at home before only their second sellout crowd of the season.

Boston 2, Montreal 2--Steve Heinze scored with less than six minutes left in the game to give the Bruins a tie with the Canadiens at Montreal in a game that saw the two teams hit the post a combined five times.

New York Rangers 5, New York Islanders 2--Jan Hlavac scored two goals at Nassau Coliseum for the second time this season to lead the Rangers over the Islanders at Uniondale.

Colorado 3, Chicago 1--Rookie Alex Tanguay broke a tie with a power-play goal 4:31 into the third period as the Avalanche improved its home unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1) with a victory over the Blackhawks.

Dallas 2, Vancouver 1--Kirk Muller’s second-period goal, his second game-winner against the Canucks this season, lifted the Stars, playing without the injured Brett Hull and Mike Modano, to a victory at Vancouver, Canada.

Around the League

Pittsburgh Coach Herb Brooks was suspended indefinitely by the NHL for a profanity-filled tirade at a television commentator. After the Penguins’ 4-3 loss in Colorado Thursday night, Brooks had to be restrained by security from going after Avalanche TV play-by-play announcer John Kelly. Kelly suggested Penguin forward Matthew Barnaby faked an injury after being hit by Colorado’s Alexei Gusarov. Barnaby was on the ice, apparently unconscious, for about a minute before being taken to the locker room. No penalty was called. . . . The Phoenix Coyotes are for sale, possibly to the developer owner Richard Burke, originally picked as a partner in the construction of a new arena, the team confirmed Saturday night. The Mesa Tribune, a newspaper serving suburban Phoenix, reported Saturday that the founder of the Ellman Cos. was acting as broker to line up potential investors, and that Ellman might join one or more to buy out Burke. Burke is anxious about the future of the Los Arcos project, a $535-million mall redevelopment in suburban Scottsdale with an 18,000-seat hockey arena as its centerpiece.