clarinews@clarinet.com (01/17/90)
PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- Rob Brown scored two goals, Mario Lemieux extended his scoring streak to 34 games and Paul Coffey became the 37th player in NHL history to record 900 or more career points Tuesday night to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins, winners of five of their last six and seven of their last nine, took a two-point lead over the Flyers in the Patrick Division after the teams entered the game in a fourth-place tie. The Flyers fell to 0-4-3 in their last seven and 2-9-3 in their last 14. Pittsburgh successfully killed off seven of eight Flyers power-plays, including two consecutive two-man disadvantages in the third period -- the first for 1:11, the second for 33 seconds. Murray Craven's second goal of the game with just 1:10 remaining in the third period pulled the Flyers to within 4-3. The Penguins held two-goal leads after both the first and second periods as the Flyers fell to 0-14-1 when trailing after two periods. Mark Recchi's 15th of the season came just 2:19 into the first period when hepopped a Phil Bourque rebound past goaltender Pete Peeters for a 1-0 Penguins lead. Pittsburgh, mired in a 2 for 16 drought on the power play, scored with just a minute remaining in the period for a 2-0 lead. With former Penguin Mike Bullard off for interference, Brown wristed a shot from the right circle at 19:00. Coffey assisted on the goal for his 899th career point. Brian Propp stuffed a loose puck in the crease past Tom Barrasso at 4:59 of the second period to move the Flyers to within 2-1. But Brown's second goal of the game and 21st of the season on a slap shot from the right circle, again on the power-play setup by Lemieux, made it 3-1 at 9:25. Philadelphia made it 3-2 at 16:12 on the power play when Murray Craven bagged his 16th of the season. Zarley Zalapski's fourth of the season, one-timing a shot off a pass from Coffey, made it 4-2 at 17:59, the third Penguins power-play goal of the game. The assist was Coffey's 900th career point.