Daigle Flying For Philly
After nearly two months with the Philadelphia Flyers, Alexandre Daigle is finally doing what the team expected: scoring goals. Bunches of them.
Daigle had three in Saturday’s 6-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings as the Flyers ended their eight-game winless slump against the 1997 Stanley Cup winners. He had an overtime goal a week ago against Pittsburgh and a game-tying goal in a 2-2 tie with New Jersey Tuesday.
After going goal-less for more than 20 games, he has five in four games.
“Personally, I feel more relaxed, more loose,” said Daigle, who has 12 assists since coming to Philadelphia from Ottawa in a trade on Jan. 17. “I had a lot of assists, but they’re not like goals.”
Philadelphia had gone 0-7-1 against the Red Wings, including four straight losses in the Stanley Cup finals in June, since beating Detroit 4-1 on Nov. 25, 1995.
In Boston, Dmitri Khristich scored twice and made it his best game as a pro with assists on all three goals by Jason Allison as the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers 5-1.
The Bruins moved ahead 1-0 when Khristich tipped Ray Bourque’s shot past Mike Richter. The assist was Bourque’s 1,400th career point.
Officials ponder apology
Officials of the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Hockey praised Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Chris Chelios for his efforts in ending the three-week standoff with the U.S. men’s Olympic ice hockey team.
Chelios, captain of the team, sent a letter of apology Friday on behalf of his teammates and a $3,000 check to cover damage at the Olympic village caused by unidentified teammates.
“I haven’t seen the letter,” said USOC president Bill Hybl on Saturday. “However, it would appear this is certainly a good-faith effort by the captain of the USA Hockey team to put the entire incident behind them. We applaud Chelios’ efforts.”
However, Hybl wasn’t quite ready to close the case.
“We have to wait and see what was actually done, to whom,” Hybl said. “It’s important to know Chelios is speaking for the team. We will look this over.”
Kariya progressing slowly
Anaheim’s Paul Kariya, out since Feb. 1 with post-concussion syndrome, has been cleared to begin riding an exercise bike for brief periods. But doctors say he won’t be cleared to play until he’s free of symptoms for at least one month.
Meantime, he’s getting some serious advice to quit the game.
“Does Paul want to get married and have kids and enjoy those kids 10 years from now?” asked Dr. Robert Gordon of Toronto’s Institute of Sports Medicine. “He has to make that decision. But if he were my son, I’d tell him to retire.”