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Offense, heritage are Hall highlights

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 14, 2000

TORONTO -- Denis Savard has a suggestion to improve play in the NHL -- make the rinks smaller. He believes that would bring more goals, with shooters on top of goalies and more shots flying at the net.

"I think it would help," Savard said Monday after putting on his Hall of Fame blazer and ring.

Savard, 39, was inducted with Joe Mullen, 43, two of the league's best offensive sparkplugs of the past 20 years. Also entering were Walter Bush Jr., an executive who spurred hockey development in the United States; Jim Matheson, the Edmonton Journal writer who has chronicled the Oilers since their founding; and Bob Miller, the voice of the Los Angeles Kings.

Savard, a former Lightning player who spent most of his career with Chicago, excelled in maneuvering in close quarters. He had 473 goals and 865 assists in a 17-year career that included one Stanley Cup.

Mullen was a steady, often lethal finisher who recorded six straight 40-goal seasons and won Stanley Cups with two teams. He grew up playing street hockey in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and became the first player from the United States to score 500 goals. With 1,063 points, he retired in 1997 as the leading scorer among American-born players.

Mullen credited former NHL coach and executive Emile Francis for starting ice hockey leagues in New York City. "The thing Mr. Francis did for all us city kids was get us off the street, get us interested in college and give us a dream," he said.

AVALANCHE: Center Peter Forsberg is out indefinitely with a rib injury sustained Saturday against Anaheim. Trainer Pat Karns said Forsberg will have tests this week to determine the extent.

FLYERS: General manager Bob Clarke said Eric Lindros' lawyer hadn't responded to his request last week for a meeting. Clarke asked Gordon Kirke for a meeting this week while the GM was in Toronto, Lindros' home city, for a general managers meeting.

"I never heard back from Gord at all," Clarke said.

Lindros, a restricted free agent, hasn't played an NHL game since last spring, when he sustained the sixth concussion of his career during the playoffs. The Flyers and Lindros have a contentious history, and Lindros has said he will not play for them again.

MAPLE LEAFS: Tests on Mats Sundin showed he did not sustain a fracture when a puck struck him in the forehead during Saturday's game with Chicago. Sundin, who needed 15 stitches, was listed as day to day.

RANGERS: Wing John MacLean was waived. He was a healthy scratch for 14 of the team's 16 games.

SABRES: Backup goalie Martin Biron was recalled from Rochester of the AHL. Biron, who ended a contract holdout last week, went 2-1-0 in a conditioning stint. Goalie Peter Skudra was waived.

GENERAL MANAGERS MEETING: Diving has been targeted as the next area for a crackdown. Referees will be told to begin strict application this weekend of the rule calling for a two-minute penalty for embellishment of perceived infractions, said Colin Campbell, the league's director of operations.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Penguins wing Alexei Kovalev won. He had four goals and four assists in three wins.

Monday's games

THRASHERS 4, PANTHERS 1: Donald Audette and Andrew Brunette each had a goal and an assist in the second period as Atlanta extended its road unbeaten streak to seven games (3-0-4).

Florida (1-7-4-3) finished the homestand 0-4-1. "This is rock bottom," the Panthers' Len Barrie said.

Florida ended an 0-for-25 power-play drought when Pavel Bure's wrist shot squibbed by Milan Hnilicka at 3:59 of the first period during a four-on-three set up by an "abusive language" bench penalty.

AVALANCHE 3, PENGUINS 2 (OT): Joe Sakic had two goals, the second at 3:56 of overtime, and an assist for host Colorado. Jaromir Jagr reached 400 goals with two, including the tying goal in the third, for Pittsburgh, which had a five-game unbeaten streak ended.

SABRES 3, FLAMES 2 (OT): J.P. Dumont scored 1:29 into overtime for host Buffalo. Goalie Dominik Hasek had consecutive shutouts going into the game.

- Information from the Canadian Press was used in this report.

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