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BOX SCORE
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Roman Cechmanek is starting to make it look
easy.
Cechmanek, a first-year player from the Czech Republic, recorded
his second straight shutout as the Philadelphia Flyers blanked the
Edmonton Oilers 2-0 Thursday night.
|  | | Simon Gagne caught Tommy Salo while he was down, and his close-range goal gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the second. |
Cechmanek gave his first solo interview after his second NHL
win. That's because his normal interpreter, Flyers defenseman
Michal Sykora was a healthy scratch.
"I'm happy that we won," said Cechmanek, who prefaced his
remarks by explaining that he does not speak English very well.
"We played very well defensively tonight."
Cechmanek, who made 28 saves, shrugged when someone noted that
it's quite unusual for a goaltender to have shutouts in his first
two victories.
"The whole team played very well during those two shutouts,"
Cechmanek added. "It was not me."
Cechmanek has held opponents scoreless the last 122:38 of action
at home during his two starts and in a relief role.
"He (Cechmanek) was pretty busy in there tonight," Flyers
coach Craig Ramsay said. "He made some big time saves for us
tonight."
The Flyers' regular goalie Brian Boucher has struggled this
season with a 3-5-3 record and 3.22 goals-against-average.
Cechmanek's best save came when he stopped a hard slap shot by
ex-Flyer Janne Niinimaa late in the first period. He also denied
the Oilers on five power plays.
Ramsay said that it's difficult to communicate with Cechmanek
because of the language barrier.
"He is better, though," Ramsay said. "He understands some of
the things we say. There is an adjustment for a European goaltender
to come over here and face the kinds of traffic around the net and
different angles of shots."
Cechmanek, 29, is not considered a rookie because of his age. To
qualify, a player cannot be over 25 by Sept. 15 prior to the
season.
"I played a couple of times against him in the world
championships," said Edmonton goalie Tommy Salo, who made 24
saves. "He's played pretty good every time I've seen him. He
looked almost like (Buffalo's Dominik) Hasek. He's a big
goaltender."
Simon Gagne and Paul Ranheim scored for the Flyers.
Edmonton's Chad Kilger failed on a prime scoring chance early in
the second period when he missed an open net from the crease with a
rebound shot.
Coach Craig MacTavish said that the Oilers are "really
fragile" offensively.
"We had far too many shots blocked," MacTavish said. "We were
back in our cycle game where we never get the puck out from behind
the net and get it to the front where goals are scored."
Gagne put the Flyers ahead 1-0 with his fourth goal of the
season at 12:21 of the second. Taking a pass from Rick Tocchet just
over center ice, Gagne skated down the right side, cut to his left,
and shoveled the puck past Tommy Salo. The Edmonton goalie lost his
balance and skidded through the crease.
Ranheim scored from the slot at 9:05 of the third when he slid a
backhander under Salo's arm. Chris McAllister started the play when
he jumped out of the penalty box and fed the puck to Ranheim
streaking down the ice.
The Oilers have dropped two straight games. They had their four-game winning streak snapped in a 4-3 loss at the New York Rangers
on Tuesday.
Game notes
Ranheim played in his 800th NHL game, his 14th as a member
of the Flyers. ... The Flyers are 1-for-26 on the power play in
their last seven games. ... Philadelphia is 2-4-1 against Western
Conference teams. ... Salo faced 67 shots in his last two starts
including a season-high 41 in Tuesday's loss. ... Edmonton is 1-2-0
on a five game road trip, its longest of the season. The Oilers are
3-5-0 overall away from home.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Edmonton Clubhouse
Philadelphia Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 2
Ottawa 1
Buffalo 3
NY Islanders 0
Columbus 5
San Jose 2
Philadelphia 2
Edmonton 0
NY Rangers 5
Washington 3
St. Louis 3
Colorado 3
Los Angeles 2
Vancouver 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Simon Gange takes the puck from the blue line in for the goal.
avi: 681 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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