The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 46

fvD Saturday. Nov. fi. 1082 Philadelphia Inquirer To the Flyers, an Island weekend means no holiday McCammon. "I don't think that is true.

I think the Islanders hardly ever play badly. Just some games they don't play as well as they do in others." NOTES: Rick St. Croix will be in goal for the Flyers tonight. McCammon indicated that St. Croix would play several consecutive games.

Arbour has been using a strict rotation system with his goalies, which means that Roland Melanson is scheduled to play tonight and Billy Smith tomorrow night Flyers de- fenscman Behn Wilson suffered a severe groin pull Thursday night against Vancouver and is out indefinitely. Glen Cochrane will fill in tonight. Cochrane missed the previous three games with a lower-back strain. other, and scored 14 of their 40 goals against the Flyers on their power play. Bryan Trotticr racked up five goals in one game against Philadelphia and scored eight of his 11 while playing with a man advantage.

"We think this will be a good test for us," said Flyers coach Bob McCammon. "We think we've been playing well, especially defensively. And we think we've been very disciplined, cutting down our penalties." Over the last three seasons, those penalties have been most costly. You could always count on somebody in orange and black to take a bad penalty and then, after 15 or 20 seconds, Mike Bossy or Denis Potvin would rub the Flyers' noses in it. Philadelphia has cut down those infractions to the point where it until well after New Year's Day.

But it would be just as crazy to think that the Flyers are looking at this series as if it were two games against the Hartford Whalers. They know the importance of the games and realize that an Islanders sweep would find them waking up Monday morning as a .500 hockey team (8-8-0), buried 11 points behind the Stanley Cup champs in the Patrick Division standings. The Flyers now are in second place, trailing the Isles (11-3-1) by seven points (23-16) with a game in hand. They legitimately can say they have played better than their 8-6 record would indicate, but they also know that will mean zilch against hockey's reigning powerhouse. In a sense, the Islanders are the 1 I 1 -v: 't yardstick by which all hockey teams should be measured.

But it is a more personal measurement for the Flyers. After all, it was the Flyers whom the Islanders defeated in 1980 to win their first of three consecutive Stanley Cups. And it always seems that it is against the Flyers that the Islanders crank up all their weapons, especially their power play. Virtually every change the Flyers have made since that sixth-game loss in the 1980 finals a series in which the Islanders scored a record 15 power-play goals was fashioned in an effort to sneak past the Isles. New York continued to blow the Flyers away with its power play last season.

The Islanders won six of the eight regular-season games, tied an NBA Cummings entered the game late in the first period and played 27 minutes. He sank 6 of 16 field-goal attempts, shot 7 for 9 from the free-throw line and had six rebounds. "1 couldn't say I'm happy about the way I played, but I'm not sad," Cummings said. "I played hard and gave what I could give. "It was a learning experience," he said.

"The whole year will be a learning experience, even though I'll pick up faster than most rookies." Marques Johnson led Milwaukee wiih 20 points. Sidney Moncricf and Mickey Johnson each added 17. Celtics 104, Bullets 97 Quinn Buckner and Kevin Mcllale combined for 21 points to pace a second-quarter surge last night and host Boston thwarted a late Washington rally to remain unbeaten. Buckner and Mcllale each hit on By Al Morganti Inquirer Staff Wnlfr Thanks to the National Hockey League schedule, the Flyers have managed to avoid their ultimate measuring stick, the New York Islanders, through the first 14 games of the season. But this weekend will make up for the long absence because the teams will play a home-and-home series, starting tonight on Long Island and continuing tomorrow night at the Spectrum (TV-Channel 29, And whatever happens should give the Flyers some kind of idea as to how far they have come or how far they still have to go.

It would be crazy to call a November hockey series a showdown. Heck, some teams don't even begin to sweat NHL Fluke goal ignites win by Oilers From inquirer Wire Services A fluke goal by Pat Hughes broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period to ignite a four-goal outburst by the Oilers en route to a 5-1 conquest of the New York Rangers at Edmonton, Alberta, last night. With the score 1-1, a shot by Edmonton's Charlie Huddy from outside the blue line bounced off the bottom of the end boards and over the head of New York goalie Ed Mio. The' puck went onto the stick of Hughes, who shot it into the empty net. The goal seemed to deflate the Rangers, who were beaten for goals by Dave Lumlcy, Wayne Gretzky and Huddy in the last 9 minutes.

The Rangers had five shots on goal during power plays but failed to score. They have not scored a power play on the road 27 chances this season. Blues 4, Capitals 3 Blake Dunlop and Brian Sutter scored third-period goals during a 32-second span to pace St. Louis past Washington at Lan-dover, Md. Dunlop broke a 2-2 tie after 10 minutes, 1 second of the period when he jammed in a rebound just under the pads of goalie Pat Riggin.

Sutter's goal came on an eight-foot wrist shot, after a perfect lead pass by Bernie Federko, as St. Louis took a 4-2 lead. Ken Houston's 15-foot slapshot after 12:11. cut the Capitals deficit to 4-3, but goalie Glen llanlon stopped repeated attempts to score the tying goal. VANCOUVER, British Columbia Boston Bruins forward Normand Le-vcille last night was breathing without life-support machines for the first time in two weeks but still faced an' uncertain path to recovery.

Leveille, felled by a brain hemorrhage during the first-period intermission of an NHL game against the Canucks here Oct. 23, remained in a coma at Vancouver General Hospital. But he has overcome his dependence on the life-support systems that kept him breathing since the incident. "The question now is not will he live, but how will he live?" his mother, Thcresc, said from the family's apartment in Montreal. Vancouver General Hospital official Michcle Gaudettc said the 19-year-old Montreal native was "more stable, but his condition is still poor, an.d he is still unconscious.

''It's certainly positive in that he can consistently breathe on his own, but it's not a big jump in any direction. He can remain unconscious for quite some time. Leveille's mother said her son was in. "a lighter sleep than before." ranks 14th in penalty minutes, averaging only 14.7 per game. They are hoping that the gospel according to McCammon will pay off against the Isles.

Meanwhile, the Islanders cruised through the early season before hitting a bit of a bumpy stretch this week. They lost at home to Pittsburgh, 3-1, breaking a 30-game unbeaten streak at Nassau Coliseum, and then tied the Red Wings, 3-3, in Detroit. That marked the first time since January that the Isles had gone through two regular-season games without a win. Obviously, coach Al Arbour will have them fired up for this weekend. "People are looking and saying that have not played well," said Associated Press Reserves also played a key role as Kelvin Ransey added 19 points, Jay Vincent 17 and Pat Cummings 14 to keep Dallas unbeaten in three road games this season and also hand Kansas City its first loss in three games.

Steve Johnson scored 25 and Larry Drew 19 to pace the Kings. Sonics 112, Knicks 103 David Thompson poured in 30 points and Jack Sikma added 27 to spark host Seattle over New York for its fifth straight victory. The Seattle pair combined for 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Sonics held off a rally by the Knicks, who dropped to 0-4. Spurs 105, Warriors 104 Artis Gilmore scored 23 points to lead visiting San Antonio past Golden State. Joe Barry Carroll led the Warriors with 22 points.

The victory kept San Antonio (4-1) in a tie for first place in the Midwest Division with Dallas. The Warriors fell to 3-Land are tied for second place with Phoenix in the Pacific Division. a huge scoring burst against a decent team, like the one they had in the third period that put the Pistons away last night. With the score tied, 72-72, the Sixers got six points within 31 seconds when Cheeks hit a jumper and assisted on two more buckets. Less than 3 minutes later, Philadelphia had jumped to a 90-72 lead.

Only after that did they begin to think about Boston. 76ERS Detroit 34 27 37 22 120 32 26 24 27 109 76ERS Washington's Jeff Ruland (right) has a rebound knocked out of his hands by Boston's Larry Bird during first-quarter action Cummings sparkles but Clippers fall Sports in brief Lendl tops McEnroe in Sydney Compiled fiy The Inquirer Sru SYDNEY, Australia Czechoslovakia's Ivan Lendl defeated American John McEnroe for the seventh consecutive time, 7-5, 6-2, 1-6, 4-6, 6-1, yesterday in the first round of the $329,000 Akai Gold Challenge tennis tournament. Bjorn Borg of Sweden, who suffered a crushing defeat by McEnroe in a tournament in Perth, Australia, earlier this week, returned to form with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Vitas Gerulaitis. LONDON Jo Durie and Anne Hobbs teamed up 1o defeat Rosemary Casals and Anne Smith, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, for Britain's first victory in the Wightman Cup competition. With three matches to go, the United States led the annual women's tennis competition between the two countries, 3-1.

Earlier yesterday, Chris Evert Lloyd, the top U.S. singles player, demolished Durie, 6-2, 6-2. TOWSON, Md. Top-seeded Guil-lermo Vilas of Argeutina registered five straight breaks over Bill Scan-Ion as he scored a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the quarterfinals of the $300,000 WCT Maryland Tennis Classic. Golf YIBJAUCHI, Japan Nancy Lopez birdied the first five holes on her way to a six-under-par 66 for a three-stroke lead over Beth Daniel and Amy Alcott after the first round of the $200,000 Mazda Japan tourney.

Jack Connelly, Huntingdon Valley Country Club pro, was elected president of the Philadelphia PGA during its fall meeting in l)owningtown. Football BALTIMORE Police seized 5125,000 worth of suspected cocaine and marijuana, guns and cash in a raid at the home of former Baltimore Colts' tight end Jimmie Kennedy. Narcotics detectives said they issued a warrant for Kennedy, who was not home at the time of the raid. Also seized were several thousand dollars worth of stereo equipment detectives believed to be stolen. Kennedy attended Colorado State.

He was drafted by Washington in 1977 and played for the Colts from 1975 to '77, catching 37 passes. John E. Bosacco, former owner of the Philadelphia Bell in the defunct World Football League, and his partners cannot force the National Football League to accept their proposed Memphis, football team as a new NFL franchise, U.S. District Judge Joseph L. McGlynn Jr.

ruled in Philadelphia. Bosacco and his partners contended that they were being denied an NFL franchise as punishment for their WFL involvement. Baseball KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kansas City Royals manager Dick Howscr and batting coach Rocky Colavito have been granted a continuance until Dec. 3 of their rehearing on charges of hindering and interfering with police officers.

On Oct. 12. Municipal Court Judge Leonard Hughes Jr. sentenced Howser and Colavito to 90 days in jail on charges stemming from an incident that occurred after a two-vehicle accident near Royals-Stadium Aug. 19.

After sentencing, Howser and Colavito asked for a rehearing, which was to have been held yesterday. OAKLAND, Calif. The Oakland A's traded veteran designated hitter Cliff Johnson to the Toronto Blue Jays for outfielder Al Woods. Johnson played 73 games last season, batting .238 with seven HRs and 31 RBIs. Miscellany Argentina's Santos Laciar knocked out Steve Muchoki of Kenya in the 13th round In Copenhagen, Denmark, to retain his World Boxing Association flyweight title Soviet emigre Victor Nechaev has signed a one-year contract to play for the Los Angeles Kings' minor league club in New Haven, Conn.

Nechaev initially balked when the Kings tried to send him down to New Haven several weeks ago. Bill Shoemaker became the first jockey ever to top the S90 million mark in career purses when he rode Cold to a second-place finish in the feature race at Santa Anita. From Inquirer Wire Yes, Terry Cummings definitely can play. But no, he won't transform the San Diego Clippers into NBA contenders at least for a long while. Cummings, who signed a contract on Thursday after a long holdout, scored 19 points to lead the Clippers in his first NBA game in Milwaukee last night.

But the Clippers, a 17-65 team last season, showed they arc going to need more than Cummings to become respectable. The Milwaukee Bucks broke to a.32-point halftime lead, stretched the margin to 39 points early in the fourth quarter and buried San Diego, 130-99. The lead reached 71-39 at halftime and 110-71 early in the fourth period. The Clippers (0-5) got only 11 field goals in 38 attempts from their guards. But they were delighted with the play of the 6-foot, 10-inch Cummings, the former DePaul star who was the second player chosen in the NBA draft in June.

Malone leads third-quarter surge, scores 28 as Sixers sink Pistons five of seven shots in the second quarter, combining for 14 points in a 16-6 spurt that gave the 4-0 Celtics a 50-34 lead with 4 minutes, 8 seconds remaining in the first half. Buckner had six of his 11 second-quarter points in the run; Mcllale had eight of his 10, Buckner finished the game with 13, Mcllale with 12. Larry Bird led the Celtics with 21 points. Robert Parish added 20 points, 10 in each half, while Nate Archibald scored 16. Greg Ballard led the Bullets with 20 points.

Nets 99, Cavaliers 91 Otis Bird-song tossed in 27 points, including 17 in the second half, and Darwin Cook came off the bench to add 19 to spark New Jersey to victory over host Cleveland. It was the fifth straight loss this season and the 24th consecutive defeat for the Cavs, who have not won since last March 19. Mavericks 118, Kings 113 Rolando Blackman scored 23 points and Jim Spanarkel added 18 to lead Dallas to victory at Kansas City. ving's 21 got lost in the shuffle. "ft was just another game for me," Erving said.

"I wasn't surprised by it. I didn't feel anything special by it." He should have, though. Detroit isn't exactly in there with New York, New Jersey and San Diego. These were the guys who overran Chicago, 152-144, on Wednesday night, and who had viciously taken apart Indiana and Cleveland as well. The meaning of last night's game, however, was not lost on Sixers coach Billy Cunningham.

"I thought we came out in the third period and played as well as we could play during that stretch, and we played a quality team," he said. Unsaid, too, was the fact that a full Silverdome, which is so huge it seems to have no roof, isn't exactly your normal basketball arena. Given all that, this game was special, in its own way. It represented the team's first test against a strong opponent, with the second-largest crowd ever to sec the Sixers (there were 35,139 in New Orleans to sec them in 1978) screaming from on high. Everything else, including tonight's battle with Boston, seemed distant.

"We couldn't afford to think about Boston until after the game," Erving said. "Oh, I've been aware thai Boston is there this weekend, but I don't think that game will have as much significance as the ones later on will be." Perhaps not. More to the point, the Sixers needed to know they could get Wi'UMWWItinilillillKlllliiiliiimjl irwWIIMUMWUMIIIJIMnll.il iMIIIWM If" "'1 vV 1'-' i it i wmi.il -A A. fit Associated Prebs SIXERS, from 1-D 39 free throws out of 45 attempts an average of 86.6 percent. This should not in any way diminish what Cheeks has accomplished recently or, for that matter, Julius Erving, who last night pumped in 21 points.

It's just that even the Doctor and glittering performances from the guard court pale when stacked up against the performances by this strange new person roaming down low in Ihe Philadelphia lane. In fact, it is because Malone is there that Cheeks has been able to gleefully fire the ball wherever he wants, which often is to Erving. Last night, for instance, Cheeks had 16 assists, 11 in the first half, giving him 51 in the last three games. He also scored 16 points. "When you drop the ball down low to Moses, he scores," shrugged Cheeks, who obviously Is having the time of his life with this team.

"And when he gets those rebounds," Cheeks continued, "you get a lot of fast breaks. Tonight, we got a lot of fast breaks, and everybody was gone." No bnger docs Cheeks have to fire the ball on a laser beam to get the ball into the Doctor's hands, or to Malone. "They still double Doc," Cheeks said, "but now we can swing the ball and either drop the ball to Moses or swing it back out to Andrew IToneyl." The magnitude of the Big Mo and Little Mo show was such that Er- Min FG-A FT-A A Pts Erving 28 10-13 1-4 2 4 3 21 lavsroni 17 2-4 0-0 1 0 4 4 Malone 31 9-14 10-12 13 1 2 28 Cheeks 34 8-12 0-2 4 16 3 16 Toney 39 8 20 2-3 8 8 3 19 Jones 23 6-8 0-0 1 2 3 12 Schoene 4 8 0-0 5 1 3 8 Edwards 23 4-7 2 2 1 4 4 10 Cureton 15 1-3 0-0 6 0 3 2 Anderson 6 0-1 O-O1020 McNamara 2 0-1 0-0 2 0 1 0 Totals 240 52 91 15-23 44 3631 120 Detroit Min FG-A FT-A A Pts Bonsnn 28 4-8 3-4 6 3 2 11 Tnpucka 36 9-11 1-2 3 5 2 21 Laimbeer 30 5-8 0-0 6 2 4 10 Long 31 8-17 1-3 5 2 2 17 Thomas 23 8 14 7-11 2 5 1 24 Johnson 20 6 8 1-3 2 2 1 11 Jones 19 1-2 2-4 4 0 4 5 Tyler 17 2-4 0 0 2 0 1 4 Levingston 14 1-1 44 2 0 1 6 Russell 2 00 0-0 0 0 0 0 Pmrca 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 "Totals 240 40-77 27-40 32 1920 109 Technical fouls Detroit (Tnpucka). Blocked shots 76ERS 7. (Malone 4.

Cheeks 1. Erving 1, lavaroni II, Detroit 6, (E.Jones 3. Tyler 1, Benson 1, Livingston 1). Officials: Jess Kersey and Jim Wishmier. Attendance; 28,222.

Moses Malone looks for a way around Pistons' Bill Laimbeer.