EASTERN QUARTER-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 1:
#1 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #8 BUFFALO SABRES
Philadelphia leads 1-0
Next Game: Friday April 14th, 2000 7pm at Philadelphia
Welcome to Philly, Dominik Hasek. As you can see, things are pretty hectic. The Philadelphia Flyers, feeding off turmoil and distractions, gave Hasek a little taste of the pressure-cooker Thursday night. They bombarded him with 30 shots and beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Simon Gagne's third-period goal. The Dominator, the arch enemy of any playoff opponent, was left shaking his head and muttering to himself after the dizzying scramble that led to Gagne's tiebreaking goal.
"Maybe I'm a little surprised," said Keith Primeau, who assisted on Gagne's winning goal. "You're not going to score three goals against Dominik every night."
Hasek might have looked a little shaken. Despite all they've been through, the Flyers didn't appear rattled at all.
Coach Roger Neilson, recovering from multiple myeloma, watched from a box in the balcony while interim coach Craig Ramsay ran the team from behind the bench. Former captain Eric Lindros, out with a concussion, was nowhere to be seen.
The Flyers carried on mighty fine without him.
"We have a good group, and we liked our team," Ramsay said. "It just happened to build throughout the season. Just making the stretch run, having a little fun with that was a big factor."
Fun? The Flyers lost their coach to cancer treatment and their best player to a concussion and perhaps his final clash with Flyers management. They seemed like a team on a mission Thursday night.
And their momentum is even more important in this series, because the teams play again Friday night.
"You cannot afford to lose the second one," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.
Rookie Brian Boucher, chosen by Ramsay to be Philadelphia's playoff starter over John Vanbiesbrouck, faced only 20 shots but came up with some clutch saves. Keith Jones and Daymond Langkow gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead in the first period, a rare early lead against Hasek.
"I think we all knew with Hasek in there, that doesn't happen very often," Boucher said. "It's good to get that start."
Stu Barnes and Miroslav Satan got Hasek a reprieve with second-period goals to tie it at 2, but the Flyers kept charging at Hasek and peppering him with shots from all angles until he gave in again.
"If you get enough shots, you're going to get some by him," Langkow said. "He's a veteran goaltender with a lot of experience, so I don't think he's rattled."
The Flyers, who failed to score on their last 25 power-play chances in the regular season, were 2-for-6 Thursday night.
Philadelphia defenseman Chris Therien, who has the best slap shot on the team, left the game with a sprained shoulder. His status for Game 2 was uncertain. Buffalo forward Doug Gilmour, stricken with a serious stomach virus, played 17 shifts for about 13 minutes and wasn't much of a factor.
"I feel a little tired right now," Gilmour said. "It was tough at first, but I felt better as the game went on."
With the score tied at 2, John LeClair blasted a slap shot from the left circle that deflected off a Sabres player and to Gagne, who took a swipe at it. Primeau, who lost his helmet, took a whack that was stopped by Hasek. The puck bounced out to Gagne, who poked it past a sprawling Hasek for a 3-2 lead with 14:27 left.
"There was a small hole between the post and my legs," said Hasek, who allowed more than two goals only once in the final 10 games of the season. "He got the puck exactly into the small hole."
The Flyers seized the all-important early momentum, pinning the Sabres back and closing around Hasek with the pressure of a vise. With 5:04 left in the first period, at 7:38 p.m., the Flyers solved The Dominator.
Eric Desjardins wound up for a shot from the point that was deflected, and Langkow picked it up and sent it back toward the net. Jones deflected Langkow's shot past Hasek to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.
Rick Tocchet took a holding penalty with 1:58 left, giving Buffalo a chance to tie it with a late power-play goal after getting outplayed most of the first period. But Langkow came out of nowhere at center ice, slipped behind the defense just inside the blue line and took a pass from Desjardins for a breakaway.
Langkow switched from backhand-to-forehand-to-backhand and lifted the puck into the top of the net with a quickness usually reserved for Hasek. Neilson, watching from the balcony level in a box next to general manager Bob Clarke's, clapped effusively while watching the replay on TV.
The short-handed goal with 7.5 seconds left gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead and could have been devastating for Buffalo.
"Obviously, we didn't want to get down 2-0," Barnes said. "Obviously, we did."
#2 WASHINGTON CAPITALS vs #7 PITTSBURGH PENQUINS
Pittsburgh leads 1-0
Next Game: Saturday April 15th, 2000 2pm at Pittsburgh
Fired up by the opposing coach's bravado, the Pittsburgh Penguins handed the Washington Capitals their worst playoff loss in franchise history. The Penguins scored on three of their first four shots -- two on power plays and a third skating 4-on-4 -- as European speed and finesse dominated North American brute Thursday night in a 7-0 Game 1 victory in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The victory came two days after Washington coach Ron Wilson, commenting on the unusual schedule for the series, said he would be willing to play all seven games in Pittsburgh and his team would "go in there and beat 'em anyway."
That didn't sit well in Steel Country.
"It was up on the bulletin board," right wing Matthew Barnaby said. "It definitely made us angry. You want to be taken seriously."
Six Penguins scored, and Jaromir Jagr had four assists. Three goals came skating four-on-four, two on 5-on-4 power plays and another on a 5-on-3. On every goal, Pittsburgh had plenty of ice -- whether from an odd-man rush or just sloppy defense. Washington tallied 27 penalty minutes.
"That was about the most embarrassing effort of the season," right wing Terry Yake said. "We got outplayed in every aspect of the game. They outchecked us, they outplayed us in the power-play, penalty-kill. I don't know how many 2-on-1s, 2-on-0s, 3-on-2s they had."
Janne Laukkanen, Robert Lang and Martin Straka scored in the first period, and Jiri Slegr, Jan Hrdina and Tyler Wright scored in the second. Laukkanen got his second goal in the third period for the Penguins, who finally won a Game 1 against the Capitals. Pittsburgh has won four of five playoff series against Washington over the last decade, but the Caps won the opener each time.
The seven-goal deficit was the biggest in 138 postseason games for the Capitals. They've lost by six goals three times, including a 7-1 loss to Pittsburgh in 1995.
The Penguins finished one goal shy of matching their biggest playoff victory, an 8-0 rout of Minnesota in 1991.
"One game doesn't a series make," coach Herb Brooks said. "But it's a good start."
Under the quirky schedule, the seventh-seeded Penguins take the 1-0 series lead home for the next two games, Saturday and Monday. Usually the higher seed gets the first two games at home, but the unavailability of Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena for several days next week prompted the NHL to put the second-seeded Capitals at home for Games 1, 4, 5 and 7.
"We just lost home ice," Wilson said. "And we've got our work cut out for us. We're going to have to go in there and get at least a split if not a sweep or we're going to be in serious trouble."
Washington captain Adam Oates said his team would "have to be awake for Game 1" because of the schedule, but the Capitals didn't follow a single plank of their series strategy.
The Caps wanted to physically punish and wear down the speedier and flashier Penguins without taking unnecessary penalties -- as they did when they allowed three power-play goals in a 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh on March 30. The Caps also wanted to pack the slot and grind out goals on counterattacks and rebounds. They did neither.
Defenseman Ken Klee had an awful night. His first error was a scuffle he started behind the net that led to coincidental minors for roughing. That put the Penguins in their element, skating 4-on-4. When Peter Bondra strayed too deep in Pittsburgh's zone, the Penguins had a 2-on-1 break that ended with Laukkanen's big drive through goalie Olaf Kolzig at 2:30.
Klee also contributed to the second Penguins goal. After skating himself out of position on a 2-on-2, Klee dislodged the net and was whistled for delay of game. Ten seconds later, Jagr slid a crisp pass to a wide-open Lang in front of the crease for the easy power-play goal at 6:34.
Straka stuffed in the puck on a power play at 11:26 to make it 3-0. Slegr got another four-aside goal at 3:00 of the second period. Hrdina placed a brilliant shot between Zettler's legs into the corner of the net during yet another four-on-four at 12:03. Wright scored a 2-on-none break at 13:32, the only goal to be scored with the teams skating 5-on-5.
Laukkanen stuffed in a rebound on a 5-on-3 power play just 33 seconds into the final period. By then, Kolzig had been mercifully pulled for Craig Billington.
Ron Tugnutt made 32 saves for the shutout, but the credit goes to the Pittsburgh defense. Most of Tugnutt's stops weren't clean, but the Penguins were able to clear the puck because there was rarely a Capitals player in front of the crease.
"We were really antsy, maybe with a little too much excitement, too much rambunctiousness," Yake said. "We allowed ourselves to get out of control and took some bad penalties. ... We were too excited tonight."
#3 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #6 OTTAWA SENATORS
Toronto leads 1-0
Next Game: Saturday April 15th, 2000 7pm at Toronto
With Curtis Joseph in goal and playoff experience behind them, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in good shape in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Joseph made 30 saves for his ninth career playoff shutout and Darcy Tucker and Mats Sundin scored Wednesday night to give the Leafs a 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators in their playoff opener. "It's a fine line when it comes to the playoffs," Sundin said. "The teams were evenly matched, and Cujo was the difference. He had a great game, as usual."
The second game of the first-round best-of-7 series is Saturday at Toronto. Because of the two days off, the Senators returned to Ottawa following the game.
"You like to get the momentum that a first-game win gives you," Joseph said. "It's a big part of any game, even when you're playing checkers."
Not all was good for the Leafs. Toronto center Yanic Perreault left with six minutes remaining with a knee injury. Coach Pat Quinn says Perreault, one of the league's top faceoff men, will miss the rest of the playoffs, but the Leafs say they won't know the full extent of the injury until Perreault is re-evaluated on Thursday.
Tucker scored in the second period and Sundin added an empty-netter with 20.8 seconds left for the Leafs.
"We got to the puck first a lot of times and during the regular season we didn't do that against that club," Joseph said. "We played hard along the walls and battled real hard, and our defense played really well, getting the puck out of our zone."
The Leafs, a conference finalist last year, had the opportunity to put the game away early but couldn't capitalize.
Three consecutive Ottawa penalties gave Toronto advantages for six of the opening 10 minutes, but the most dangerous shots sailed wide or were blocked by goalie Tom Barrasso.
The Senators regrouped and came out strong in the second period. They got off the first eight shots, and only some outstanding saves by Joseph kept them from taking the lead.
"We had a lot of chances, but they have a great goalie and he made some great saves," Ottawa center Radek Bonk said. "We created a lot of chances. Give credit to their goalie."
Tucker snatched the momentum back for the Leafs at 8:53 after Vaclav Prospal was assessed a cheap penalty for interference near Joseph's crease while the Senators were in possession of the puck.
"I'm kind of shaking," Tucker said. "I'm really excited about getting that first playoff goal."
On the power play, Perreault carried the puck down left wing and into the Senators' zone. He sent a cross-ice pass to the middle that Tucker one-timed. The puck found the near-side bottom corner before Barrasso could slide across his crease.
When Grant Ledyard was penalized two minutes later for kneeing Tie Domi away from the play, Ottawa had committed five of the six penalties.
Back at full strength, the Senators had the next best scoring chance when Joe Juneau skated within 10 feet of Joseph and aimed for the far lower corner. Joseph picked the puck out of the air with his catching mitt.
Shawn Van Allen got away with jumping on Joseph during the ensuing pileup in the crease. Mats Sundin was sent off for hooking on the play. On the Ottawa power play, Joseph stood his ground, and the referees missed Garry Valk spearing Daniel Alfredsson.
Ottawa outshot Toronto 17-7 in the second period -- 24-16 over the first 40 minutes -- yet the Leafs led 1-0. The Senators finished with a 30-21 shots advantage.
Marian Hossa nearly tied the game in the fourth minute of the third when he stole the puck from Danny Markov, skated in alone on Joseph, deked him out of position, but fanned on a backhander.
"I just missed by centimeters," Hossa said.
Barrasso was lifted for an extra attacker with 64 seconds left, after Nik Antropov iced the puck. Bonk got off two shots when the Senators blitzed Joseph, and Hossa whipped a shot off the crossbar.
"I heard it hit the iron," said Joseph, who made his 76th playoff appearance.
Sundin then iced it for Toronto.
Quinn wasn't particularly happy Joseph had to play such a large role.
"We had too many turnovers in the mid-ice area and we had to depend too much on Curtis to win the hockey game," Quinn said.
#4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS vs #5 FLORIDA PANTHERS
New Jersey leads 1-0
Next Game: Sunday April 16th, 2000 7:30pm at New Jersey
The New Jersey Devils opened the playoffs in much the same way they played this season, starting fast and holding on at the end.
Scott Stevens, Petr Sykora and Sergei Brylin scored early as the Devils opened a three-goal lead and then avoided another playoff embarrassment by hanging on to beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Thursday night. Rookie Scott Gomez also scored and Martin Brodeur made 20 saves as the Devils took the opening game of the best-of-7 first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
New Jersey was the NHL's best team for the first half of the season and then just barely salvaged home-ice advantage for the playoffs, falling from the top seed to No. 4, just ahead of Florida.
"It's never easy," Brodeur said. "We always make it hard on ourselves. We've been through a lot the last couple of months and it's going to take a while for us to be solid for 60 minutes. It will take a lot of work and confidence and we're trying to get there."
Bobby Holik, who had assists on the goals by Stevens and Brylin, said the Devils still need to improve.
"But in the playoffs, you take any win you can get," he said. "We're not going to give it back."
Game 2 will be played here Sunday, with the contest marking the return of Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer from a 10-game suspension for hitting Florida's Peter Worrell over the head with his stick March. 19.
Worrell, who scored one of Florida's goals, said the incident is over.
"Playoffs are too important to worry about something like that," said Worrell, who was booed by the fans every time he touched the puck. "The only thing we can worry about is he is a good hockey player and he's going to come back in the next game and help their team out."
Mike Sillinger and Rob Niedermayer, Scott's brother, also scored for the Panthers, making their first playoff appearance since 1997.
That seemed to show early as Stevens, Sykora and Brylin scored in the opening 15:28 in what seemed to be an effort to wipe out the frustrations of three straight early exits from the playoffs.
However, the game just as quickly turned into a microcosm of New Jersey's season.
With things seemingly in hand, Devils lost their intensity and spent the rest of the game trying to hold off the Panthers.
"To start off the game, I have never seen a group of guys more nervous in the first period in many many years," Florida coach Terry Murray said. "They were standing around watching the other team coming at us and playing. The mistakes we made and the decisions we made were very very costly."
Niedermayer got the Panthers going a little more than a minute after Brylin scored, capping a great 3-on-2 rush by scoring into an empty net off a pass from Scott Mellanby.
The play that seemed to demoralize the Devils was Worrell's goal with 17 seconds left in the period. Moments after stepping out of the penalty box, he took a cross-ice pass from Robert Svehla and beat Brodeur with a unscreened 45-foot shot that the All-Star goalie misplayed off his glove.
Gomez gave the Devils a 4-2 lead 7:21 into the second period after Todd Simpson and Sillinger failed to clear the puck from the Florida zone. Gomez got the loose puck at the top of the circle and ripped a shot that just slithered past Mike Vernon into the net.
Sillinger made up for the mistake with 6:10 left in the period, putting in a rebound of a point shot that Pavel Bure touched after Brodeur made the save. Bure, who led the NHL with 58 goals, was limited to an assist Thursday night.
Stevens opened the scoring at 1:38 beating Vernon with a slap shot from the point after Bobby Holik won a faceoff. Sykora scored on a backhander at 4:02 after outfighting Panthers defenseman Bret Hedican for a loose puck.
Brylin scored from the left circle after Panthers defenseman Mike Wilson failed to clear a puck behind his net.
"It just happened," Holik said. "We didn't say we were going to come out and score a couple of goals early. We just played hard and took advantage of our opportunities. Maybe we were a little more ready than them because it was our home ice."
Jason Arnott, the center on the Devils' top line, left the game late in the second period with a sprained right wrist and did not return. X-rays were negative, but his status for Sunday is uncertain.