Blue Line

It's been a while since the Flyers have had someone on their defense with a nasty streak, a guy who challenges a winger coming across the blue line. Someone like Danny Markov, the Flyers' Russian Assassin. "Danny gives us an element we have not had here; it's a little bit of an element we had when Dan McGillis was here," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Danny is able to attack the rush with the right read probably more than any defenseman we've had. " Markov's checks can be punishing.

Iam sure the majority of the people of Philadelphia welcome and applaud the police reforms that Commissioner John Timoney has proposed. Putting more police officers on the street, streamlining management, decentralizing decision-making authority and enhancing accountability at all levels are tried-and-true methods that should lead to improved police service for all of Philadelphia's communities. I am not so sure, however, that the people of Philadelphia, or even the commissioner himself, are happy with the characterization of his reform package as the drawing of a new "blue line.

Whoops! In one attempt to pressure the Republican-controlled Senate to pass supplemental budget bills, Gov. Casey cut funding for the office of the Senate president. There's only one problem - the Senate president is Lt. Gov. Mark S. Singel, a fellow Democrat. "It was a big boo-boo," the governor acknowledged. "It was a mistake. Someone in the governor's office with an overzealous blue pen," said Singel, Casey's 1986 running mate. He was referring to Casey's decision on Wednesday to "blue line" - delete or reduce line items - throughout the Republican-written budget for fiscal 1989.

Among the positives to emerge from the first quarter of the Flyers' season is the ease with which Bruno St. Jacques seems to have adapted on the blue line. The 21-year-old rookie defenseman from Montreal played in his fifth game last night as Chris Therien's fill-in when the Flyers took on the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. Therien is still bothered by headaches and a sore shoulder following a recent concussion. St. Jacques is playing alongside Therien's regular partner, Eric Desjardins.

NEWARK, N.J. - It is no coincidence that the Flyers' improved defensive play started at around the time they acquired Nick Grossmann from Dallas on Feb. 16. It took the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Grossmann a couple of games to get acclimated to a new system, but he has provided a much-needed physical presence and kept the front of the net clear for Flyers goalies. Grossman was plus-5 in 10 games with the Flyers, entering Sunday. In his last eight games, the Flyers had allowed a total of just 12 goals.

The word used by most NHL scouts to describe the Flyers' defensemen is suspect. Two players among the weak defensive corps have been the most suspect: Luke Richardson and Karl Dykhuis. Lately, Richardson and Dykhuis seem to be imploding. In the last 10 games, they have been on the ice for 11 goals and are a combined minus-11. When it comes to poor play, they have not been alone. Before he was injured, Eric Desjardins and his partner, Chris Therien, were a combined minus-19 over a 16-game span in which the Flyers won just once.

Last month at this time, the Caps were three games under .500 and one point in front of the last-place New York Islanders in the Patrick Division standings. But Washington Capitals owner Abe Pollin remained calm, and his team has worked its way to three games over .500 and all the way to within one point of second place. In fact, the Caps have been one of hockey's hottest teams the last few weeks. They won seven straight games from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 and averaged five goals a game during that streak.

He came to the Flyers with a reputation almost as big as his five-year, $12.6 million contract. Tough hitter on defense. Crease clearer. Guardian of the blue line. Except it took Luke Richardson more than a dozen games to do all that with the Flyers. Only recently has he felt comfortable in what is generally regarded as one of the NHL's best defenses. "The last couple of games I've clamped down and become more physical," said Richardson, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound blue-liner. "I got myself into a rut where I was chasing people around instead of just stepping up and forcing the play and getting hits where they were.

They phone, they floss, they flirt, they fax. After hitting the freeways every weekday in mind-boggling numbers - and grinding, usually, to mind- numbing halts - drivers have learned to make the best of their idle hours. That still doesn't mean they like it. Now, for many, comes an option. For the first time in almost 30 years, Los Angeles has a mass transit rail line, and transportation officials hope that, for the sake of a city choked by traffic and smog, car-crazy commuters will give it a ride.

He skated up the right side with such determination, such an obvious sense of purpose, such an expanse of open ice in front of him, that it's hard to believe Claude Lemieux had no idea what he was going to do with the puck once he was forced to make a decision. Should he rip a long slapshot? Should he keep driving to the net? Should he pull up and try to make a play to a trailing teammate? Decisions. Decisions. "I guess Pepe figured, 'What the hell,' and he just shot, and it was awesome," said New Jersey winger Mike Peluso, giving his version of Claude "Pepe" Lemieux's intricate thought process.

IN SUNDAY'S overtime loss to Pittsburgh, coach Peter Laviolette liked what he saw in the Flyers' defensive zone, but said "it could be better. " On Tuesday night, it got worse. Perhaps the only way to cure what ails the Flyers - the same thing that has been their downfall all season: downright bad defense - is by beefing up the blue line. Last week, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren and director of hockey ops Chris Pryor created buzz in their native Minnesota by scouting both the WCHA's Final Five tournament and the Wild's home game against San Jose.

YOU KNOW ALL those Philly cops who packed the courtroom last week for former Lt. Jonathan Josey? Their cheers were so jubilant when Judge Patrick Dugan acquitted Josey of assault, it would be easy to assume that their euphoria was shared by all Philly cops. No way, said an officer who reached out after reading my column about Josey. I'd written that the verdict was a disgrace. Who, I ranted, could view the videotape of Josey slugging a woman after the Puerto Rican Day parade last summer and conclude that it was anything less than a deliberate clobber?

ONE GAGGLE of cameras and audio recorders surrounded Wayne Simmonds. Another was quickly forming around Danny Briere. Brayden Schenn kept his head down and walked toward his stall in the corner of the Flyers' dressing room, distanced from the bright lights and eager microphones. Schenn, 21, entered Monday's action tied for 29th in NHL scoring with 19 points - ahead of such bigger names as Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin and even Simmonds. Yet no player ahead of him on that list - especially no Flyer - has received less attention and fanfare this season.

GROUNDHOG DAY was last Saturday. For Bruno Gervais, it had to feel like the start of the Flyers' season again. Gervais was a new face in a new place, yet he still began the year the same way he did last season: in the press box. As a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, the defenseman was scratched for nearly the first 40 games, before impressing Guy Boucher's staff and finishing on a strong note as a regular. Gervais, 28, was scratched for the Flyers' first two games, passed over in favor of fellow newcomer Kurtis Foster.

NEW YORK - Alex Ovechkin's power-play goal with 7 minutes, 27 seconds remaining snapped a tie and gave the Washington Capitals a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers that squared their Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game apiece on Monday night. A little less than six minutes after Ryan Callahan got the Rangers even with a power-play goal, Ovechkin put the Capitals ahead for good after they had squandered a 2-0 lead. Former Flyer Mike Knuble and Jason Chimera scored first-period goals for the Capitals, who will host the next two games of the series.

STEVEN STAMKOS scored two late goals, giving him an NHL-best 58 this season, and the host Tampa Bay Lightning handed the playoff-hopeful Washington Capitals a damaging, 4-2 loss on Monday night. Stamkos gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead with 1:03 left, just 2:14 after Jason Chimera tied it for Washington, when he put in a rebound after goalie Michal Neuvirth had stopped Brett Clark's shot from the blue line. Stamkos then scored into an empty net at 19:58. Washington, which also got a goal from Alexander Semin, is in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

KNOCKING ON WOOD in the Flyers' locker room yesterday, Jaromir Jagr said he is tired of stopping and starting. Not on the ice. But in the rehab process - the one that he's continually started over again, without fail, since his wonky groin and hip first started acting up on Nov. 17. Play two games. Rest. Play two games. Sit. Skate for 14 games. Rest for two. Play seven games. Sit for two. Push for eight. Sit out. For the most part, Jagr's season has been like a Ferrari snarled in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway - just enough room to press the pedal, but not enough to fully appreciate the price tag. Because even when Jagr has been playing, he hasn't been 100 percent.

NEWARK, N.J. - It is no coincidence that the Flyers' improved defensive play started at around the time they acquired Nick Grossmann from Dallas on Feb. 16. It took the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Grossmann a couple of games to get acclimated to a new system, but he has provided a much-needed physical presence and kept the front of the net clear for Flyers goalies. Grossman was plus-5 in 10 games with the Flyers, entering Sunday. In his last eight games, the Flyers had allowed a total of just 12 goals.

In a span OF 3 nights, the Flyers added nearly 484 pounds of beef to their blue line with defensemen Pavel Kubina and Nicklas Grossman. The two defensemen have combined to block 203 shots this season, which is almost as many as Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros and Marc-Andre Bourdon have stopped from getting to the net. Notice a pattern? Hey, if your $51 million goaltender can't stop a puck, I guess you better limit how many he sees on a nightly basis. "With the addition of Nicklas and Pavel, we've certainly replaced some of the size and maybe some of the nastiness that Chris [Pronger]

AT FIRST glance, it was a throwaway moment - a routine play in the NHL that you probably wouldn't spend another second thinking about. The Predators' net, with Anders Lindback on the bench, was as empty as the Wells Fargo Center, since Wayne Simmonds' goal with 4 minutes and 41 seconds left had already sent most of the 19,823 in attendance sprinting toward the parking lot. Jaromir Jagr picked up the puck in the neutral zone and barreled in...