Leafs recapture first place in East

TORONTO (CP) -- Sandy McCarthy and Craig Berube pretended they were Dave (The Hammer) Schultz and Bob (Houndog) Kelly, but they couldn't quite pull off a reincarnation of the Broad Street Bullies.

The Toronto Maple Leafs beat Philadelphia 6-4 on Saturday night to reclaim first place in the NHL's Eastern Conference from the Flyers.

"Are we playing hockey or playing that '70s scrum crap that we've already been through?" wondered Toronto coach Pat Quinn, incensed that McCarthy, Berube and Flyers defenceman Luke Richardson picked on Leafs forwards known as pacifists to start a second-period brawl. "I thought that was a bygone era.

"When their five guys start throwing punches at your five guys, something's wrong. (Neilson) thinks he's still coaching in the '70s."

That would be Roger Neilson, diagnosed with incurable bone cancer Thursday and given a standing ovation by 19,000 fans during a stoppage in play minutes into the contest when he was shown on the giant video screen.

"Roger, this cheer's for you from all your fans in Toronto," said a message on the screen.

Players on both teams gathered at their benches and slapped their sticks against the boards in recognition of the 65-year-old coach.

He blushed. Tears welled in his eyes. Afterwards, he spoke of how much the gesture meant to him. He was confused at first because he couldn't read the message.

"I saw my mug up there so I guessed what was happening," Neilson said. "That was kind of an emotional moment for me.

"That's one of the nicest things that has ever happened to me in hockey."

That was it for the niceties. His players tried everything to win for him.

With his team trailing 5-2 after allowing three consecutive Toronto goals in less than two minutes early in the second period, Flyers captain Eric Lindros picked a fight with Alexander Karpovtsev. After they were sent off, McCarthy and Berube started the next shift. Quinn left out the line of Tie Domi, Mike Johnson and Dimitri Khristich. With last change, he could have replaced one of them with heavyweight Kris King, but chose not to.

The brawl began when Berube shoved Domi in the back of the head after a faceoff. Berube and McCarthy dropped their gloves and cornered Domi, who backpedalled to safety as the rest of the players paired off. McCarthy grabbed Khristich and threw him to the ice.

Richardson went after Johnson and Adam Burt latched on to Tomas Kaberle. Domi then intervened to get Burt off Kaberle. Richardson, who had gone to the penalty box, re-entered the fray when he saw Domi hammering Burt.

And through it all, goaltenders Curtis Joseph and Brian Boucher, who had replaced John Vanbiesbrouck after Toronto's fifth goal, danced at centre ice without throwing hurtful punches.

"Domi threw four punches at Burt, who couldn't defend himself," said Neilson. "You can't sucker somebody like that.

"I was really surprised at Tie. I think he lost a lot of respect from the guys on my team and from myself."

Domi, McCarthy and Richardson were ejected.

In the penalty box, Domi mocked the Flyers' enforcers by shaping his hands into six-shooters, firing a few rounds and sticking them in a virtual holster.

"I took two of 'em down," Domi said. "I was pretty pumped. Three of them got misconducts and me. I'll take that."

Lindros was watching.

"I'm not going to get into it but we saw what happened," was all he'd say.

Garry Valk scored two goals for the Leafs. Steve Thomas, Johnson, Sergei Berezin and Jonas Hoglund, with an empty-netter, had one each. Lindros, Keith Jones, Daymond Langkow and Mark Recchi replied.

The Flyers mounted a third-period comeback that fell short.

"After the rodeo, we got our act together," said Lindros.

While Schultz and Kelly helped the '70s Flyers win two NHL titles, the club's current lineup has the same problem it encountered last spring in being knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by Toronto: the Leafs have the superior goaltending. It is developing into an intense rivalry, but Joseph will outplay Vanbiesbrouck most nights.

The next time they meet, Feb. 9, Neilson will be nearly two-thirds into his chemotherapy schedule. He's hoping not to miss any games, but assistant Craig Ramsay will take over if he's too ill to work.

"We really think that because Roger is such a battler than he'll get through this," said Ramsay, who has had his share of physical agony. "Roger has a system in place and if he can't make every game we'll try to keep it going."

The two go back a long way. Ramsay was captain of the Peterborough Petes juniors in 1970 when Neilson was the coach. In 1993, Ramsay had his stomach removed because of bleeding ulcers. His esophagus is attached to his large intestine. He is able to eat only small amounts at a time.

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