Hats Off for LeClair

John LeClair found his scoring touch against his favorite opponent.

LeClair scored three times -- including the go-ahead goal late in the third period -- as the Philadelphia Flyers tallied three goals in a 76-second span to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 Wednesday night.

LeClair, playing just his fifth game since returning from back surgery, got his first hat trick of the season, and 11th of his career -- three against the Lightning. He has 29 goals in 36 games against Tampa Bay.

"It`s still only a coincidence," LeClair said. "It`s not like I get up for them any different than I do against anybody else. It just seems like everybody has a team they do well against."

LeClair missed 20 games after surgery to repair a herniated disc. He gave the Flyers a 4-3 lead with 3:40 left by directing a rebound off a shot from Rick Tocchet.

Paul Ranheim made it 5-3 just 17 seconds later, and LeClair got his third of the night on a slap shot with 2:24 left.

"Guys like that do what he did. They win games for you late," center Keith Primeau said. "John was terrific."

Philadelphia, which had lost four of five, blew a two-goal in the third period against a team that has won just once in 18 games at First Union Center.

LeClair gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead by blasting a shot past Tampa Bay goalie Dan Cloutier less than two minutes after Pavel Kubina`s goal cut it to 2-1 with 5:56 left in the second.

"It was just nice to get the touch with shooting," LeClair said. "It was frustrating. I had some chances that didn`t go in."

The Flyers scored their first power-play goal in five games, snapping an 0-for-16 stretch, when Simon Gagne one-timed a centering pass from Daymond Langkow for a 1-0 lead in the first period.

Philadelphia was 1-for-33 with a man-advantage over the last nine games before the goal.

The Flyers not only got a power-play goal, but they displayed some feistiness, one day after coach Craig Ramsay urged the team to be more aggressive.

The team once known as the "Broad Street Bullies" entered as the least-penalized team in the NHL, but Mark Recchi fought former Flyers defenseman Petr Svoboda late in the second.

Tocchet, the most penalized Flyers player in team history, also got into it with a high-sticking call and a slashing penalty.

"Our intensity was there all night," Primeau said. "It was a good start."

Tampa Bay got within 3-2 on a goal by Vincent Lecavalier 2:42 into the third. Martin St. Louis brought the puck up the ice, skated into the Flyers zone, then crossed a pass in front of the net to Lecavalier, who tipped it in.

Fredrik Modin tied it at 3 midway through the third by tipping in a centering pass from Steve Martins.

"We missed a lot of players and we gave them hell for 40 minutes," Lightning coach Steve Ludzik said. "I defy anybody to tell me we didn`t play harder than Philadelphia tonight."

NOTES:
Flyers D Michal Sykora returned to face his former Lightning teammates after missing nine games with a lower back injury. ... Philadelphia has outscored the Lightning 35-11 over the last nine home games. ... Lecavalier has four goals in his last four games. He moved into seventh place on the Lightning`s career list with 52 goals. ... Joe Klueg rejoined the Flyers on Monday as director of media services. ... Tocchet also had two assists to reach 500 in his career.

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: AP