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LeClair Shines Against Rangers

Left wing back to form in 5-3 rout

By Brian Marks, philadelphiaflyers.com

John LeClair breaks down the left wing all alone, moves into the circle and cranks a wicked slap shot with zero hesitation. The baffled goaltender is left with no answers, just questions as the First Union Center's horn blazes and the crowd booms. You’re cuing up footage from the 1996-97 season, right? Nope. Classic LeClair is back and on display at an NHL rink featuring Orange and Black hockey near you.

“The thing about LeClair right now is that he’s very focused on taking people’s space away and fighting for his own – he’s coming back,” Head Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “That’s what we’ve wanted him to do. He had to get physically fit to do that, to play this way. This was very good for him, to do the things he needed to do. He had lots of chances, he had lots of opportunities, he was around [the puck] all the time.”

After one injury-plagued season (2000-01) and another inconsistent and unimpressive campaign (2001-02), many questioned whether #10 would ever return to the power of his peak performances. LeClair has declared that he will. Now, his game is starting to show the signs of the 40- and 50-goal years of the late 1990s.

In the first period of Tuesday’s preseason contest with the New York Rangers at the First Union Center, a Keith Primeau screen in the neutral zone set up a smooth cross-ice outlet pass from Todd Fedoruk to LeClair. LeClair did the rest, skimming a slap shot through the legs of Rangers goalie Mike Richter from the left circle for a 2-0 first-period lead.

“It was vintage John LeClair,” Primeau said. “I didn’t see that from John last year and it’s nice to see him back to a high level."

LeClair presented fans with the same opportunity early in the second period. This time, however, Richter was able to snare the shot.

This was a Flyers effort all have envisioned. The leaders stepping up and taking over the game. A balanced scoring attack and a deadly scoring attack. It all came into fruition throughout the first two periods en route to a brawling 5-3 victory over the Rangers. LeClair, Primeau and Jeremy Roenick were among the five different goal scorers for the Flyers. The team scored three goals on the man advantage.

“I think we’re improving quite a bit now,” Head Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We kept the tempo. We hit the wall a little bit in the third period, but we’re better. We’re able to sustain [the pace] for 40 minutes. We’re not there yet, we have a ways to go and lots of time to get there, but it’s nice to play with coordinated effort.”

Primeau started the scoring just 2:49 into the first period with his team-leading fifth goal of the preseason, scrambling within a crease scrum and swiping the puck behind Richter and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Roenick got the special teams going with a power play goal in the second period, one-timing Marty Murray’s cross-slot pass at 5:35 for a 3-0 advantage. It was Roenick’s first goal of the preseason.

Roenick was strong on his skates all night and it helped wipe away fears of his back concerns. It was revealed earlier this week that the Flyers center had been suffering from a tightness of the sacroiliac joint of his back, a pain that he attributed to an off-season training regimen that saw him gain 11 pounds.

“It was a great pass by Marty,” Roenick said of the goal. “I’m starting to feel really strong. The endurance is what comes last, but I felt really good tonight. I felt like I had good speed, my vision is really good.”

Defenseman Kim Johnsson made it a 4-0 game with his first preseason goal, beating home a one-time pass from Pavel Brendl on the outskirts of the left circle. It was the Flyers’ second power play goal of the period. Eric Weinrich would add the third power play goal in the third period.

“It’s understanding the dimensions on the ice,” Hitchcock said of the improved power play. “You have a lot of room to work…you need to have people to be in lanes if we’re going to shoot the puck…the key for power play is being able to score at the right time in the hockey game and the other key is that the power play doesn’t take away energy from you. And our power play is not taking away energy from us.”

Notes: It was fight night against the rival Rangers as the brawls brewed throughout the game and featured a total of 159 combined penalty minutes. Donald Brashear and Todd Fedoruk sparked the First Union Center crowd with consecutive fights three-quarters through the second period. Brashear, who battled Rangers forward Krzysztof Oliwa earlier in the period, dropped his gloves with former Flyer Sandy McCarthy as the puck was dropped in front of the New York bench. Brashear’s beating actually broke McCarthy’s helmet in half. Fedoruk followed that display just as play resumed with a tussle of his own with Oliwa…the Flyers outshot the Rangers, 38 to 18, posting 11 in the first period, 12 in the second period and 15 in the third period…Marty Murray won 73 % of faceoffs (11 of 15) on the evening.

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Mein favorite player herrscht alles in Grund und Boden!!

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...visit:http://www.broadstreetbully.com ; Donald Brashear herrscht !!