clarinews@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- The victory was so ugly it nearly made Philadelphia coach Paul Holmgren lose his breakfast. The Flyers blew a four-goal lead, allowing the tying goal with four seconds remaining in regulation, but salvaged a 7-6 overtime victory Saturday afternoon. Mike Bullard took a pass from Rick Tocchet and whistled a 15-foot shot over the glove hand of North Star goaltender Jon Casey with nine seconds remaining in overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers their third straight victory. The Flyers allowed Minnesota 52 shots on goaltender Ken Wregget, but only managed a paltry 23 themselves. ``I think I might have to go and throw up after this one,'' Holmgren said. ``We certainly didn't do too many things right. If it wasn't for Ken Wregget, it would have been 21 to 6. It might be a break but we certainly didn't have it coming today.'' Dave Gagner's second goal tied the score 6-6 with four seconds remaining in regulation when he tipped Mike Gartner's drive from the left face-off circle past Wregget. Minnesota narrowed the gap to 6-5 on goals by Stewart Gavin and Aaron Broten less than two minutes apart in the third period. Minnestota closed to within 6-3 when Mike Modano scored his 21st goal on a power play with 26 seconds left in the second period. ``We got away with one today,'' Wregget said. ``It wasn't pretty.'' The Flyers took a 5-2 lead when Pelle Eklund beat Casey with a short-handed goal to the stick side at 1:32 of the second period. Tocchet increased the advantage to four goals when he scored on the third of three power-play goals for the Flyers, tucking a loose puck around the right post at 15:55. ``The guys really didn't do a goddamn thing out there,'' said North Star coach Pierre Page. ``We have only ourselves to blame. Our defense was getting caught up the ice a lot. How they got seven goals on those shots is beyond me.'' Tim Kerr scored his career 600th NHL point in the first period. In the opening period, Craig Berube, Eklund and Ilkka Sinisalo scored for Philadelphia, while Gagner and Don Barber tallied for Minnesota.