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Flyers' Manning: McDavid's focus in wrong place

Last November, Edmonton's Connor McDavid missed 37 games after he broke his left clavicle, probably costing him the rookie-of-the-year award.

McDavid lost an edge on the play and then collided with Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning and went into the boards.

McDavid, who at 19 is the new face of the NHL, told Manning it was a "classless thing" he did to him.

At least that's Manning's version.

McDavid had a different version. After the Flyers' historic 6-5 comeback win over the Oilers on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center, he said Manning admitted he injured him on purpose.

Manning vehemently denied it.

"That's 100 percent wrong," he said. "Anyone who has seen the clip, sees him catch an edge. I would never intentionally hurt someone....When he comes out and says that's the most classless thing....and for him to come out in the second period and yell at our bench for a minute and tell me to get on the ice. Or for him to score a goal and start chirping at me, you should see where his focus is right there."

The two were involved in a first-period scrum. Later, McDavid scored a power-play goal and then jawed at Manning, calling him a bleeping bleep, provided my lip-reading is correct.

"He wanted to make some comments today about what went on last year, and I thought it was one of the classless things I've ever seen on the ice," said McDavid after collecting a goal and an assist and raising his points total to 38, tops in the league. "He said some things, and our guys responded accordingly. We can put the whole, 'He did it on purpose' thing to rest, because what he said out there confirmed that. It shows what kind of guy he is, how he doesn't step up and fight some of our guys."

Mark Feb. 16 on your calendar. That's when this suddenly explosive rivalry continues in Edmonton.

Historic win. The Flyers overcame a pair of two-goal deficits (2-0 and 5-3) to win a game for the first time in franchise history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Breakaways. Steve Mason looked weary after making his 12th start in 13 games and it wouldn't be surprising if rookie Anthony Stolarz got the call Saturday afternoon against visiting Dallas.....Jake Voracek equaled a career-high with four points. Voracek has 11 points in the Flyers' seven-game winning streak.....Claude Giroux (three points) was 19 for 24 (79 percent) on faceoffs, including 15 for 17 (88 percent) in the final two periods....Ivan Provorov played a team-high 21:05, collected an assist, two hits and four blocked shots....Travis Konecny had seven hits.....Mason had a rare off night but managed to win his sixth straight, a personal best....Pierre-Edouard Bellemare won 12 of 18 (67 percent) of his faceoffs....McDavid has 19 points in his last 11 games