Flyers Bury Avalanche

John LeClair and Simon Gagne each had a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers scored three straight goals in the second period to beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 Saturday night. Jeremy Roenick and Jiri Dopita added goals and Roman Cechmanek made 31 saves to help the Flyers beat the Avalanche for the first time in Denver. Philadelphia, 1-2-4 in Denver, was winless on the road against the Colorado/Quebec franchise since 1993 in Quebec.

Pascal Trepanier and Milan Hejduk scored for Colorado. Patrick Roy gave up four goals for the seventh time this season as the Avalanche lost consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 21.

Philadelphia used an unforced error by Colorado's Joe Sakic to take a 1-0 lead at 15:29 of the first period. Sakic put the puck on Gagne's stick in the slot and Gagne fired a slap shot between Roy's pads.

The goalies controlled play in the first period, with Cechmanek stopping Chris Drury and Vaclav Nedorost with stick saves. Roy had made skate saves on Kim Johnsson and Eric Weinrich.

Philadelphia used the three-goal second period to take a 4-2. Trepanier used a screen by Keith Primeau to tie the game 28 seconds into the period, but LeClair gave the Flyers the lead back at 3:55, batting the puck out of the air past Roy's shoulder.

Dopita got his second goal of the season at 9:41, tapping Primeau's deflected shot into the net. Roenick scored with the teams skating 4-on-4 and Hejduk cut the deficit to 4-2 with a short-handed goal with 2:03 left in the period.

Primeau added an empty-net goal in the third period.

Notes:
Primeau and Colorado's Keith Hinote had to be restrained after Primeau ran into Roy two minutes into the game. ... The Flyers have given up six short-handed goals this season. ... Philadelphia is 3-1-0-0 on the second night of back-to-back games. ... Roy was honored for his record 500th victory midway through the first period. ... The Avalanche played without injured Adam Foote (sore knee) and Brad Larsen (sore ribs). ... Colorado finished December 9-3-3-0.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News