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There are some afternoons in sport that unfold not with a sudden roar, but with a slow, inevitable realization… that one club has simply taken command of the day.
At the Wells Fargo Center, before a crowd of over forty-four thousand, the Quebec Nordiques did just that, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers by the score of 9 to 3… and in doing so, moving to the brink of a sweep in this Conference Semifinal.
It began quietly enough—though not for long.
In the top of the first inning, with a runner aboard, Peter Stastny stepped in. And with a graceful swing, he sent the ball soaring into the gap… a triple that brought home the game’s first run. Moments later, another would follow, and then another. Before many had settled into their seats, it was 3–0 Quebec.
And you could sense it then… that this might be their afternoon.
Stastny, who seemed to be everywhere at once, would finish the day a perfect portrait of offensive excellence—three hits in five trips, a home run, a triple, a double… the rare and delightful symmetry of power and precision. He scored three times, drove in two, and left his imprint on nearly every turning point of the game.
Philadelphia, to their credit, answered in the third. A pair of well-struck hits, a double down the line, a single through the infield—and suddenly, the deficit was trimmed to 4–2. For a brief moment, the building stirred with possibility.
But baseball—and hockey, in this curious telling—has a way of revealing truth over time.
And the truth on this afternoon was that Quebec had more.
In the eighth inning, the Nordiques opened the game wide. A double by Stastny, a stolen base, and then a home run by Ben Rice that seemed to carry not just over the wall, but over any remaining doubt. Three runs in the inning… and the distance between the clubs grew once more.
By the ninth, the final touches were applied—two more runs, including Stastny’s home run, a fitting punctuation mark on a remarkable performance.
On the mound, Tony Sierra was steady, not overpowering but effective—five and a third innings, allowing just two runs. And behind him, the bullpen held firm, as good teams often do in October.
And so, as the shadows lengthened ever so slightly across the field, the scoreboard told the story plainly: 9 runs, 15 hits, no errors for Quebec. For Philadelphia, 3 runs… and a series now hanging by a thread.
The Nordiques lead it three games to none.
And tomorrow… well, tomorrow offers one of baseball’s most delicate propositions—the chance to close… and the desperate hope to extend.
As Vin Scully might say… you never quite know what the next day will bring.
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