Demers Denied in Lightning Debut

Jacques Demers got to see firsthand why the Tampa Bay Lightning changed coaches.

“I’m not very happy tonight,� said Demers, who was on the Lightning bench Friday night at Tampa, Fla., for the first time. “We got some good quality effort from some guys, but it’s obvious that some guys couldn’t raise their effort.

“The one thing I want to know is if that’s the maximum they could give us. It’s a learning process for me.�

Two goals by Tom Chorske helped New York spoil new Demers’ debut as the Islanders won, 4-1, and the Lightning continued its record-breaking free fall. Tampa Bay’s franchise-record winless streak (0-13-1) hit 14 games and an eighth consecutive loss tied another mark.

Chorske’s first-period short-handed goal opened the scoring. The right wing, whose last goal came on April 3, added a second-period power-play effort.

Although outshooting New York, 18-11, during the opening 40 minutes, Salo kept the Lightning off the scoreboard. The goaltender turned aside seven opening-period shots, including Daymond Langkow’s deflection.

Demers did move past Bob Berry into 10th place (861) on the all-time NHL regular-season games-coached list.

N.Y. Rangers 3, Pittsburgh 1--Alexei Kovalev scored his first goal of the season and the Rangers shook off another slow start at New York.

The Rangers, who had been struggling at home with a 2-4-4 record in their first 10 games, allowed the visiting team to score first for the 10th time. But, this time they managed to come back for a victory on goals by Mike Keane and the slump-ridden Kovalev, who got a standing ovation from the crowd at Madison Square Garden after breaking a 1-1 tie at 8:50 of the third period.

Kovalev had only managed five assists in his first 18 games while going through the most frustrating slump of his NHL career.

Pittsburgh Coach Kevin Constantine said his team was concerned that Kovalev would break out.

“We actually talked and showed a little clip of him doing some things last game one-on-one,� Constantine said. “He’s pretty dangerous. That’s why we showed it. He made a good move and scored a nice goal.�

The Rangers hadn’t been doing well at home. It had been 247 minutes and 45 seconds since the Rangers last held the lead at the Garden. That happened in a game against the Mighty Ducks on Oct. 26.

Philadelphia 5, Florida 2--John LeClair scored twice and had an assist to lead the Flyers at Miami.

A Philadelphia three-goal spurt in a span of 3:50 in the third period broke open a 2-2 game and gave the Flyers their fifth consecutive victory over the Panthers.

LeClair scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season, while Eric Lindros had three assists.

Ray Whitney and Dave Gagner, with the 300th goal of his career, scored for the Panthers.

New Jersey 4, Colorado 1--Bobby Holik scored two goals and Randy McKay had a goal and two assists to the lead the Devils at East Rutherford, N.J., in a battle of two of the NHL’s hottest teams.

Petr Sykora also scored for the Devils, who won their fifth in a row and improved their record to 8-1-0 over the last nine games.

Martin Brodeur made 20 saves to record his ninth consecutive victory, breaking the club record set by Chris Terreri in the 1991-92 season.