NHL Roundup : Flyers Continue to Cast Their Spell Over Islanders

The real New York Islanders were supposed to show up for Game 2 Sunday night at Philadelphia in their series with the Flyers.

They were supposed to be completely recovered from their remarkable, record-setting comeback victory over Washington in the first round of Stanley Cup action.

If this was the real Islanders, the Flyers don’t have a worry.

Brian Propp had a hat trick, his linemate Tim Kerr had a goal and three assists and the Flyers took a 2-0 lead over the Islanders in the best-of-seven second round series with a 5-2 victory.

Pelle Lindbergh stopped 26 Islander shots and kept them scoreless until after Propp had his three goals. It was the fifth consecutive victory for Lindbergh in the playoffs.

The Flyers treat Billy Smith, the winningest goalie in Stanley Cup history, as just another goaltender. They fired 36 shots at him and put five past him. Although he has won 88 playoff games, Smith hasn’t had much success against the Flyers in recent meetings.

The last time he beat them in the regular season was Feb. 3, 1982. Counting this playoff game, he is 0-9-2 in his last 11 encounters with the Flyers.

Although the Islanders have made a habit of coming back from seemingly insurmountable deficits to win in the playoffs, it is the Flyers who appear to be of championship caliber.

They had the best record during the regular season, but nobody was jumping on the bandwagon. With each impressive victory they are acquiring more followers.

Propp scored 43 goals during the regular season, but did not score in the first four games of the playoffs. Halfway through the first period, he took a pass from Kerr on the power play and lifted the puck over Smith’s right pad. He scored again in the final minute of the first period and completed his hat trick at 15:47 of the second period to make it 4-0.

“I knew he would get at least one tonight,� Coach Mike Keenan said. “He was due. You just can’t keep a scorer like that off the board that long.

“Our players have been working extremely hard. Pelle is playing extremely well. He is maturing and that gives him confidence, which gives him consistency. Our players are going to the net and making things happen.�

Islanders’ Coach Al Arbour, who has seen his team fight back from similar circumstances, said he hoped the two goals would give the Islanders a spark for Tuesday night’s game at Nassau Coliseum.

“Hopefully, those two goals will prove to be helpful,� he said. “It will make our players see that he (Lindbergh) is not invincible, and we’ll get rolling. We started the game well but before we could get going, we made two bad mistakes and were quickly in trouble.�

Montreal 6, Quebec 4--In the second game of the Battle of Quebec, the Canadiens spotted the Nordiques two power-play goals within 4 1/2 minutes of the opening faceoff.

Then, faced with the prospects of going down 2-0 on home ice, they rallied for four goals in a row. Instead of wrapping up the game, the Canadiens permitted the Nordiques to draw even on two goals in the first three minutes of the last period.

It remained for Mats Naslund, the talented Swede who has been their top producer on offense all season, to break the deadlock with just under five minutes remaining.

Defenseman Rick Green brought the puck over the blueline and fired it into the slot where Naslund deflected it past rookie goaltender Mario Gosselin into the net to even the series at 1-1.

Bob Gainey completed the scoring when he banged the puck into an empty net in the final minute.

It may have been a costly victory for the Canadiens. Rookie defenseman Petr Svoboda tore ligaments in his ankle and is out of the playoffs. Another standout young defenseman, Chris Chelios is playing, although he has a shoulder injury. He scored the second Montreal goal.

Chicago 5, Minnesota 2--Curt Fraser scored two goals in a record-setting second period outburst at Chicago to lead the Black Hawks to the win that tied the series at a game apiece.

The Black Hawks scored four times and the North Stars once in a span of 3:06, the fastest five goals ever scored in the playoffs. In 1980, Minnesota and Philadelphia scored five in 3:20.

There were seven goals in the period. Ken Brown of the Black Hawks started the record flurry when he scored at 1:12. Fraser made the fifth one at 4:18.

The Black Hawks scored their final goal when Troy Murray took a pass from Fraser and scored with just 1:18 left in the game.