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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lindros Hits Winner In Ot

Associated Press

Martin Brodeur finally flinched, giving life to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Eric Lindros made the most of it.

Brodeur, the star of New Jersey’s playoff run, gave up a soft goal late in the third period, forcing overtime Wednesday night. Lindros then beat Brodeur 4 minutes, 19 seconds into the overtime, lifting the Flyers to a 3-2 victory.

The Devils were seemingly on their way to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals with a 2-1 lead when Brodeur was fooled on a shot from the left point by Rod Brind’Amour with 6:03 left in regulation.

Brind’Amour was 60 feet away on the left side of the ice when he sent the puck on net. It bounced once and then skipped by Brodeur, who apparently wasn’t ready for it.

That uncharacteristic lapse by Brodeur, who has otherwise been brilliant in the playoffs, might have been just what the Flyers needed to get back into the NHL semifinal series.

The Flyers won their first game of the series after two embarrassing performances in Philadelphia where they were dominated by the Devils. They will try to even the series in Game 4 at the Meadowlands on Saturday.

The Flyers won it when Lindros, the trailer on a rush down ice, took a pass from the right side from Mikael Renberg, his “Legion of Doom” linemate, and beat Brodeur with a hard shot from the slot.

“The right guy had the puck in the right spot at the right time,” said Ron Hextall, whose sharp goaltending was another reason the Flyers finally beat the Devils after two losses in Philadelphia. “I couldn’t have picked a better guy to have the puck.”

Kevin Dineen scored Philadelphia’s other goal. Claude Lemieux and Randy McKay scored for the Devils.

The Devils were 17-0-4 when holding a lead going into the third period during the regular season and postseason. This was the first overtime loss for New Jersey in these playoffs while the Flyers are 4-0.

Flyers 3, Devils 2

Philadelphia 1 0 1 1 - 3 New Jersey 1 1 0 0 - 2

First Period-1, New Jersey, Lemieux 9 (Stevens), 1:32. 2, Philadelphia, Dineen 4 (Dykhuis, Svoboda), 4:24.

Second Period-3, New Jersey, McKay 6 (Holik), 2:53.

Third Period-4, Philadelphia, Brind’Amour 5 (Dykhuis, Semenov), 13:57.

Overtime- 5, Philadelphia, Lindros 4 (Renberg, LeClair), 4:19.

Shots on goal-Philadelphia 8-8-6-3-25. New Jersey 10-13-8-2-33.Power-play Opp.-Philadelphia 0 of 3; New Jersey 0 of 4.Goalies-Philadelphia, Hextall 9-3 (33 shots-31 saves). New Jersey, Brodeur 10-3 (25-22).A-19,040 (19,040).