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Winning at all costs Flyers beating Devils because they're paying the price
Posted: Friday May 19, 2000 08:26 PM
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The thick black-scabbed stitches on John LeClair's nose ran from the base of his right nostril halfway up at a 45 degree angle and made a sharp left to the base of his eye. There were 36 stitches on the nose and three more under his eye. The sunglasses on LeClair's face Friday prevented anyone from seeing either the stitches under his eye or the eye, which was still supposedly a little swollen. The Philadelphia Flyers forward was cut Thursday night when he was struck by New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur's stick in the third period of the Flyers' 4-2 victory in Game 3. The win gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals, but bigger questions surround LeClair's status for Game 4 on Saturday night. LeClair insisted Friday that he will play, wearing a shield on his helmet. "Johnny is a warrior and he'll be ready," Flyers coach Craig Ramsay said. "He says he'll be ready and he'll battle his way through again." However, the swelling seemingly will have to go down for that to happen. "We still have a lot of time," said LeClair, whose six goals in the playoffs is tops on the Flyers. "The swelling has gone down drastically even from last night so I'm really hopeful." The prescribed treatment over the next 24 hours will be plenty of ice and rest. "I feel very fortunate that I didn't have any serious damage," LeClair said. "It's not something that I would have liked and it doesn't look too pretty, but realistically I'm pretty fortunate." No kidding. LeClair was hit square in the face by Brodeur's stick as the goalie shot the puck around the boards as he played it behind the net. There was no penalty because the injury occurred while Brodeur was making a normal follow-through on his clearing attempt. The stick never struck the eye itself, unlike the incident earlier this season that has put Toronto defenseman Bryan Berard's career in jeopardy. "It was amazing. I couldn't believe it when I heard how many stitches he had," Brodeur said Friday. "I felt bad. It was a follow through and the stick just hit him. You don't want that to happen but it's part of the game." LeClair said the fact it was a goaltender playing the puck led to his injury. "If it's a player, I'm sticking my stick out and I'm going to go through him," LeClair said. "But when it's a goaltender you have to play the puck. I backed off a little and that's when I got hit." The injury is just the latest adversity to strike the Flyers in a season that has seen coach Roger Neilson stricken with cancer and superstar Eric Lindros sidelined with a concussion since March. Even this series has been tough. Not only was LeClair injured in Game 3 but center Daymond Langkow sustained a concussion in Game 2 after scoring the winning goal. It's unlikely Langkow will be ready for Game 4, Ramsay said Friday. "We believe in what we are doing the system we are playing," said Flyers goalie Brian Boucher, who was outstanding making 27 saves on Thursday night. "So whoever we put out there, it seems to come together as a group." The Devils will need that to happen on Saturday if they want to return to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1995. New Jersey blew a two-goal lead in losing Game 2 on Tuesday and was outworked by Flyers on Thursday night in falling behind in the series. "It's not like you're out there getting outplayed and you're facing 25 scoring chances and the other guys are so good and so fast and so skilled you can't play against them," Devils veteran Claude Lemieux said. "It's just a matter of position and controlling your play and correcting your mistakes." Instead of skating Friday, the Devils met with coach Larry Robinson for about an hour to discuss what they've been doing wrong since winning the series opener. "It's not time to feel sorry for yourself," Robinson said. "I feel there is a confidence there. We just have to get back to doing the things we did before. We've gotten away from priding ourselves in being a good positional team. We're running about a little too much."
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