European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 26 the stars and stripes saturday december 24,1988 wild Browns await oilers by Chuck Melvin a spurts writer. Cleveland playoffs brine out the Best and the worst in Earnest Dyner. Owner of Cleveland s top two postseason Rushing performances As Wal As inc most famous Fumble in team history i m trying not to think about All that byner said As he prepared for saturday s acc wild card game against inc Houston oilers it i try to think about having that big game i la just end up causing problems for  byner s last playoff memory is a dark one. The Browns were on the verge of tying last season s acc championship game in Denver a Fin he fumbled the Ball away at inc Broncos Yard line stopping Cleve land one game Short of the super bowl for the second straight year. Vet byner might More fairly be remembered As the Man who broke Jim Brown s 21-year-old learn record for Rushing in a playoff game. Byner ran for 961 Yards acc wild card in a loss to the Miami dolphins in january 1986,smashing Brown s record of 114 Yards set in 1964 against Baltimore. Following week he was Superb until the closing seconds running is times for 67 Yards and catching seven passes for 120 Yards. He scored twp touchdowns. He realizes his past heroics and his Blunder will be in the spotlight again saturday. You Don l want to get Loo hyped up bul it s hard not to at his Lime of year he said. Cleveland will Host the rubber match because it had a Superior division record. Both teams went 10-6 Over All during the regular season. When you play Cleveland you really Don l even look at it As a playoff game said quarterback Warren Moon. You look at it As a divisional opponent. We know each other so Well it s just going to come Down to out executing each other and making the big plays. That s where they won the game last week. They made More big plays than we did in he later stages of inc  the Browns Defeated Houston 28-23 sunday Over coming a 16-Point deficit with three straight touch Downs in inc second half. The oilers who could have eliminated Cleveland from the playoffs and clinched Home Field advantage for the wild card game have been replaying thai loss in their minds this week when we went up 23-7. If we could have held i Crri on the next series we would have been in better Posi Tion Moon said. But they went on a Long drive and scored and 1 think that s where it started to get away. No fumbles will a Earnest byner s game priority. If we could have gotten inc Ball Back and scored one More Lime i think they might have Given  learn ran the Ball Well at least partly be cause of poor fooling on tie cold snowy Field. Temperatures in inc 40s were expected saturday though rain May make the Field Slippery once again. Our defense did a Good Job against them byner  we had the Gall Houston was doing a lot of stunting at the line and really clogging things up in the mid.   Montreal beats Boston 2 by the associated . Bobby Smith and Claude la Mioux scored Power play goals As the Montreal canadians continued their dominance in the Adams division with a 2 Victory Over the Boston ruins thursday night. ,. Beaten Only once in the last 14 games and twice in the last 20, the canadians improved their season re Cord against Boston to 1 while increasing their Adams division Lead to 15 Points Over the second place  goalie Patrick Roy beaten Only once in his Lasi 16 games had 24 saves in improving his record to15-3,.-. The canadians. Who have won four straight spotted Boston a 0 Lead on def Ensman Alain Cote s first nil goal a slap shot from just inside the Blue line at 5 38 Folh tint period. It was Boston s first shot on goal.  " Montreal look command and shelled goalie Reggie Lem Lin with three consecutive goals for. A 3- Lead after one period. ,. Ryan Waller and Chris cd chios also scored for the canadians. ,. The Bruins who have won Only five of their ia.sl-22starts/dropped Back ta.500.wiih a 14-9 record. Including 5 at Home. Flat hrs 4, islanders 2 Uniondale . Ron Suiter Conid twice and  Jeff Chyc Ruri added  nil goal As Philadelphia beat the new York islanders for. Its sixth straight Victory. I was she islanders 14th loss in their last 15 games. And fifth in six games since Al Arbour replaced Terry Simpson As Couch. " nil Roundup the flyers Are 1 in their last 11 games and improved to 18-17-2 for 38 Points creating a three Way lie for second place with Washington and the new York rangers in the Patrick division la s the first time Philadelphia has been above .500 since nov. 6. Brian Propp gave the flyers a 0 Lead with a Power play goal Al 5 50 of the first period. He lifted a re bound for his 15lh goal of Floc season Over exalt under Billy Smith who slopped Terry Carkner original shot. ,. Suiter made it 0 Al the 11-minute Mark on assists from Tim Kerr and Jay Wells. Suiter scored his eighth goal when he stuffed the puck past Smith on the suck Side. A. Ron Hemlall who made 26 saves is now 1. Life time against the islanders and 1 in his last eight games. Had wines 4, blues 4 r St. Louis Steve Yzerman had iwo goals and two assists amending his scoring Streak to 23 games As Detroit rallied from a two goal def Iii to lie St. Louis.-.-. 1 Yzerman s Power play Goat at 12 05 of the third period his 34th of inc season beat is. Louis goaltender Vincent Riendlau to tic. The score. A iceman beat Riendlau on a wrist shot from the right Side. Yerran s scoring Streak stretching his flub record lies the nil High for inc. Season held by Wayne Greiz by of los Angeles Yzerman  5ft.Points on 26 goal Sand 30 assists during his Streak. Brett Hull and Peter Veicl each had a goal and a assist for the blues who had built a 1 Stond Perikl Lead in an Effort to avenge a 3 loss to Detroit tues Day night Brian Binning and Cliff Ronning got Jhc Oiher goals for the blues. -. Phoenix snaps Denver Jinx with Victory by the associated precis Denver Jeff Hornack scored 24 Points thursday night 10 of them in inc decisive fourth Quarter leading Phoenix to a 126-118 Victory Over the nuggets thursday night and braking the suns id game losing Streak in Den ver. The suns had rot won at Mcnichols Arena since april 8, 1984. It was inc third Road Victory this season for inc suns. Phoenix s balanced offence included Eddie Johnson and Kevin Johnson with 23 Points each while Tom Chambers and Armann Gilliam had 21 apiece. The nuggets i railed most of the game bul ral lied to tie in 97-97 at the end of three quarters. The suns countered with it 10-0 run to open the Aba Roundup final period with Hornacek scoring six of those poems. Denver battled Back to to 121-116 deficit in the final minute when ale English made one of two free throws Eddie Johnson hit a Juniper from inc Side that clinched the Victory with 45 seconds remaining. English led Denver with 34 Points Michael Adams who hit three Pointcrs to extend i Saba record to 68 games scored 20 Points while fats lever added 19. Wayne Cooper had 19 rebounds and nine blocked shots for Denver each of which lie career highs for the 11-Ycarnba Veteran Center. Thai was a great one for us to win and i think Well have inc same kind of Battle Friday night when inc two teams play again in Phoe Nix suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. As for Hornack s career High scoring Filz Simmons said Jeffs been spending a lot of Lime working on his shooting and he s starting to shoot the  Well. Tonight he played a Good solid All around  meanwhile Hornacek was looking ahead tothe Friday rematch. We can t dwell on this one. It does t mean a thing if. We go Home and lose tomorrow night he said Nugg Cis coach Doug Moe did t like what he saw. We re in rouble. We re playing bad. If in we run l for Coop Wayne Cooper we d have lost by 40, we had to give him a rest and we had no Hope when he was out. We need a Small Miracle to win tomorrow night Moe moaned. In other games thursday blazers 117, warriors 109 Oakland Calif Clyde Droxler had 38 Points and Terry Pilor scored 12 of his 25 in the fourth Quarter As the Portland Trail blazers lost most of a 28-Poinl Lead before outlasting Gold state. The Trail blazers loss Starling Forward Jerome Kersey to a fractured nose suffered when he Washin by the Ball in the second Quarter. Kicks 88, pistons 85 new York Mark Jackson s driving Layup with 32 seconds left gave new York the Lead Ashe kicks won their ninth consecutive Home game. The kicks now 12-1 at Madison Square Garden scored the game s final six Points. Jackson led the kicks with is Points while Vinnie Johnson paced Detroit with. 19,. Rockets 125, clippers 109houston Keom Olajuwon scored eight of his 20 Points in the first 2vt minutes of the fourth Quarter As Houston won its fourth straight game by beating los Angeles clippers the rockets wasted a 19-Point second Quarter Lead and had to come from behind to Lead by seven after three quarters Olajuwon s eight Points then powered a 10-0 run that gave hous ton a 98-81 Lead ". The clippers now 13 on the Road did t get within 15 Point the rest of the Way As the Rock ets won for the seventh time in nine games. Buck Johnson had a career High 24 Points for the rockets followed by Mike Woodson with2l.objuwon grabbed 18 it Bounds