For A Night, Greig Delivers On Promise

It has been a long time since Mark Greig was a first-round draft choice with a promising NHL future.

Nobody knows that better than Greig, a winger who saw his first NHL action in four years last night when the Flyers called him up for a 5-0 rout of the New York Islanders.

Greig, who played 10 minutes and 59 seconds and scored a goal on a one-timer from the slot, was promoted from the Phantoms because of Marc Bureau's sprained wrist. The Flyers ripped the nameplate off the No. 15 jersey Richard Park used last week and tossed it to him. They spelled his name ``GREIR'' in the press notes, perhaps confusing him with former Flyer Mark Freer.

He didn't mind.

``When you first arrive here, nobody really knows who you are. I'm excited to be back in the NHL,'' Greig said. ``It's been a while . . . There's no question there were times I wondered if it would ever come.''

Greig turns 29 on Jan. 25. He was Hartford's first-round pick, taken 15th overall, in 1990, one spot before Chicago took Karl Dykhuis. He played in 95 NHL games over the next five seasons with the Whalers, Toronto and Calgary, never quite winning a spot anywhere. The last three years he played in the International League, more for veteran minor leaguers than prospects, because he was tired of bouncing up and down.

``I could never find that consistency [Hartford] wanted. It's something I'm still striving for,'' Greig said.

But Paul Holmgren, once the Hartford GM, is the Flyers' player personnel director, and when the Flyers expressed interest over the summer Greig sold his wife on the idea that there wouldn't be any bouncing up and down - the Phantoms and the Flyers play in the same city, so whether he's up or down, they don't have to move.

ICE CUBES Eric Lindros looked dominant in his first game back from a two-game concussion absence. ``My timing's off a little bit, but I felt fine,'' said Lindros, who rocked 6-9 Isles defenseman Zdeno Chara into the boards, drawing a big crowd reaction. Chara, 21, who split last season between the Isles and the AHL, looked solid in Rich Pilon's role against the Flyers' top line. Pilon was sidelined by a knee injury. Keith Jones, who got his stick up in a run-in with the NHL's tallest player, said, ``I thought the basketball lockout was over.'' . . . The Flyers are 14-3-6 since they last lost back-to-back games, Nov. 9 and Nov. 12 against Montreal and Florida . . . Jones had five shots on net . . . Isles goalie Tommy Salo, who usually plays well against the Flyers, stopped just 16 of 21 shots before being replaced by Marcel Cousineau for the final 12 minutes and eight seconds.