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Flyers Have Final Say Against Rangers

PHILADELPHIA, May 25 — In 1987, Ron Hextall and the Philadelphia Flyers lost to Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier in the Stanley Cup finals. Ten years later, the Flyers finally have their revenge.

Hextall and the Flyers defeated Messier and Gretzky's current team, the New York Rangers, 4-2, today to win the Eastern Conference final series, 4-1, and earn another trip to the Cup finals. Philadelphia will play the winner of the Detroit-Colorado series, which the Red Wings lead, three games to two.

Back in '87, Gretzky and Messier looked invincible while playing with the Edmonton Oilers. This afternoon at CoreStates Center, they just looked tired. They didn't score in the final two periods and were limited to 10 shots. Hextall, named the playoff MVP in '87, didn't get much of a workout.

"It seems like it's been about 20 years since" the '87 finals, he said after the game. "Getting back there is a pretty special feeling. This is about being one of two teams that has a shot at the Cup."

The Rangers led, 2-1, early in today's game, their first lead since Game 2. But a goal from John LeClair 15 minutes 53 seconds into the first period evened the score, and Rod Brind'Amour's goal less than four minutes later put Philadelphia ahead. The Flyers never looked back, and Brind'Amour added a second goal in the third period for comfort — and emphasis.

"We did not want to lose our composure at all," Flyers center Joel Otto said. "We started to a little earlier in the game by taking some bad penalties, but the guys put their heads in the game and got focused. We wanted to finish it here."

The Flyers have won all three of their playoff series in five games and managed to stay relatively healthy throughout. The older Rangers also played 15 games in these playoffs, but were beat up along the way. Wingers Bill Berg, Niklas Sundstrom, Pat Flatley and Ken Germander were all out this afternoon, and Gretzky, Brian Leetch, Bruce Driver and Doug Lidster all received pain shots before the game.

Afterward, New York Coach Colin Campbell blamed the team's poor health for the loss, although he also pointed to the Rangers' inability to kill penalties. Two of Philadelphia's goals came on the power play, including Eric Lindros's opening score at 5:18 of the first period.

"Our penalty kill was our downfall, as it has been all year, and that led to the rest of the game not going well," he said. "We were on our heels from the very start. We always said getting the first goal was very important in this series."

But the Rangers were unable to score first in any game of this series as the Flyers dominated all but Game 2. In that game, Philadelphia goaltender Garth Snow allowed five goals on 10 shots before being replaced by Hextall. Since then, Hextall has played well, allowing seven goals on 92 shots as the New York offense sputtered. The tight, disciplined defense the Rangers displayed in the first and second rounds was also missing, and Richter, who allowed just 14 goals in their first 10 games, allowed 19 in this series.

Still, Messier, 36, ended the day by praising his team, perhaps for the last time. His contract expires this summer.

"It's never easy losing," he said. "It's always difficult under any circumstances. But I have nothing but admiration for the whole team. As the captain, I couldn't have asked for anything more."

The Rangers were not expected to get this far. By contrast, the Flyers faced the pressure of expectations all season, Brind'Amour noted after the game.

Like Lindros, Brind'Amour has never been to the finals before, but he has already begun asking Hextall for advice.

"It's like Hexy said, no one's going to remember who finished second," he said. "We know we have a lot of work ahead of us."