Rangers Find Good Fortune With Gretzky On Their Side

NHL playoffs

After Wayne Gretzky talked about the lucky goals he scored in the New York Rangers’ 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, teammate Mark Messier put the good fortune in perspective.

“His luck’s been pretty good for 20 years,” Messier said after the Rangers evened the Eastern Conference finals 1-1 heading into Game 3 Tuesday night in New York.

The NHL’s career scoring leader recorded his second hat trick of these playoffs, increasing his league record for career Stanley Cup hat tricks to 10.

“The first goal was a pretty good shot, but the other two, I was just pretty lucky,” Gretzky said. “It was my night for the puck to go in.”

It could have been even better. Gretzky had two point-blank scoring chances in the third period, but was stopped by Ron Hextall, who replaced Garth Snow in the net after Snow gave up five goals on 10 shots.

“On the first chance, I should have passed, and on the second one, Hextall just made a good save,” said Gretzky, who has nine goals and six assists in 12 playoff games.

Gretzky, a center throughout his career, played right wing on a line with Messier and Esa Tikkanen as coach Colin Campbell gave his offense a boost in a series he expects will produce a lot of goals.

“They’re a scoring team,” Campbell said of the Flyers. “Fortunately, we had some cushion today.”

The Rangers lost the first game in both of their previous playoff series against Florida and New Jersey - and came back to win both series in five games.

“We know this is going to be a long series,” Flyers center Eric Lindros said. “I think we’ve got to get back to what we did in the first game.”

They also have to get better goaltending than Snow gave them in the first two periods. Snow had his worst game of the playoffs, giving up at least three soft goals.

Flyers coach Terry Murray said he was leaning toward starting Hextall in Game 3.

Hextall, the No. 1 goalie throughout the regular season, made 12 saves. Mike Richter made 25 saves for the Rangers, who made their one-goal lead stand up during a third period dominated by the Flyers.

In a wild second period, the Flyers battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie the game, then watched as Snow gave back the two goals before being pulled.

Shjon Podein’s goal with 4:49 left in the second pulled Philadelphia within 5-4 going into the third.

Paul Coffey made it 3-2 at 6:45 of the second when he snuck in from the point to tip in a pass from the corner from Rod Brind’Amour, and Brind’Amour tied it 49 seconds later on a rising 30-foot slapshot.

But Gretzky completed his hat trick and put the Rangers back ahead when his 40-foot slapshot went in off Snow’s glove at 9:30.

Messier made it 5-3 when he finished off a 2-on-1 he had with Gretzky at 13:45. Hextall came on then, and kept the Rangers off the board the rest of the way.

Podein cut the Ranger lead to one when he and Joel Otto went in on a 2-on-1. Podein passed to Otto, who returned it, allowing Podein to deposit the puck in the vacant side of the net at 15:11.

The Rangers scored on three of their first four shots to take a 3-1 lead after the first period.

Rangers 5, Flyers 4

N.Y. Rangers 3 2 0 - 5

Philadelphia 1 3 0 - 4

First period-1, Philadelphia, LeClair 6 (Desjardins, Niinimaa), 4:11 (pp). 2, New York, Lidster 1 (Eastwood), 5:09. 3, New York, Gretzky 7 (Tikkanen, Leetch), 7:35 (pp). 4, New York, Gretzky 8 (Robitaille, Messier), 9:34 (pp).

Second period-5, Philadelphia, Coffey 1 (Brind’Amour, Renberg), 6:45. 6, Philadelphia, Brind’Amour 5, 7:34. 7, New York, Gretzky 9 (Messier, Driver), 9:30. 8, New York, Messier 3 (Beukeboom), 13:45. 9, Philadelphia, Podein 4 (Otto), 15:11. Third period-None.

Shots on goal-New York 7-7-8-22. Philadelphia 15-6-8-29.Power-play opp.-New York 2 of 2; Philadelphia 1 of 4.Goalies-New York, Richter 9-3 (29 shots-25 saves). Philadelphia, Snow 8-3 (10-5); Hextall (13:45 second, 12-12).A-20,106 (19,511).