PITTSBURGH — PITTSBURGH -- Losing a point to the Philadelphia Flyers didn't scare the Pittsburgh Penguins as much as nearly losing leading scorer Mark Recchi.
Kjell Samuelsson scored with 2 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the third period to give the Flyers a 4-4 tie yesterday with the surging Penguins. That turned out to be the good news for Pittsburgh, which lost Recchi in the second period.
Recchi, who has 40 goals and 113 points to rank third in the National Hockey League, injured his right knee when he collided with Philadelphia's Mark Pederson in open ice late in the second period. Pederson was given a major penalty for kneeing.
"It's not as bad as it could have been, and I don't expect it will cause him to miss any playoff games," Pittsburgh trainer Skip Thayer said. "If you have to have an injury, he got the best kind. The prognosis is pretty good."
Recchi, who declined comment, was put on crutches as a precaution. He was to report back to doctors this morning for a further evaluation.
"Right now we're just trying to keep the swelling down," Thayer said. "If he's OK, he can probably do some light skating maybe as soon as [tomorrow]."
"It scares you when anybody goes down, but especially when it's a player as good as Mark Recchi," left wing Kevin Stevens said. "It looks like he'll be all right, though."
The Penguins, 9-2-2 in their last 13 games while clinching the Patrick Division title, play their first playoff game Wednesday.
The teams combined for six goals in the third period.
Pittsburgh's marginal interest in the outcome was demonstrated when Mario Lemieux did not play during the overtime period.
"I didn't want to take any chances," Penguins coach Bob Johnson said.