EASTERN QUARTER-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 3:
#1 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #8 BUFFALO SABRES
Philadelphia leads 3-0
Next Game: Tuesday April 18th, 2000 7:30pm at Buffalo
John LeClair had no doubt the puck was going in this time.
LeClair got a conventional goal Sunday night as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 to take a commanding lead in their first-round playoff series.
After spending the weekend answering questions about Friday's controversial goal that cut through the mesh of the net, LeClair -- one of the NHL's most imposing snipers -- showed that he can dribble one over the goal line.
"I kind of had a good feeling about this one," LeClair said.
Philadelphia has a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference series. Game 4 will be played at Buffalo on Tuesday. LeClair's power-play goal with 4:30 left in first period stood up as the game-winner while Mark Recchi sealed the victory scoring into an empty net with 37.9 seconds remaining. Rookie goalie Brian Boucher recorded his first playoff shutout -- and fifth of his NHL career -- by stopping 17 shots.
"From the second half of the season, he just got stronger and stronger as the year went on," Recchi said of Boucher. "You've got to give him credit. He got up and grabbed it. (The coaches) had no choice but to keep putting him in."
The Flyers effectively put Friday's controversy to rest.
"That controversy had nothing to do with us," LeClair said. "We know we got a break and let's move on and we played hard tonight."
Simon Gagne, from behind the net, fed a centering pass to LeClair, who snuck a shot through Dominik Hasek's legs. Boucher, who was hardly tested, and the stifling Flyers' defense did the rest.
The Sabres, who've managed just three goals in the series, had trouble generating any offense, outshot 27-17.
After blaming the NHL and its officials for Friday's 2-1 loss, the Sabres are now in a hole, and have only themselves to blame.
"We've got some guys who haven't played up to par," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We're going to win as a team or lose as a team. ... Collectively, we haven't gotten the job done."
The Sabres aren't pulling the plug.
"By no means are we out of it," Curtis Brown said. "We're still believing we'll get our share of goals. And if we do, we'll be right back in the series."
Only two teams -- the 1975 New York Islanders and the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs -- have rallied from a 3-0 deficit in NHL playoff history.
"It's never a sure thing," Recchi said. "Obviously, we're in the driver's seat, no question, but I don't think it's ever a sure thing. If we keep playing this way, we'll make it difficult."
Buffalo's best opportunity came with eight minutes left in the second period when Brown pounced on a turnover in front. His first shot was stopped and Brown fanned on a second opportunity.
Any thoughts that officials would give the Sabres a break Sunday were quickly dispelled. The Flyers were awarded a first-period penalty shot and had six power plays -- including three straight in the second period -- to Buffalo's three.
Six of the Flyers' seven goals in the series have come on special teams, five on the power play and the other scored shorthanded. Recchi's empty-net goal marked the first time in the three games that a team had a two-goal lead.
The Flyers did miss on a penalty shot taken by Eric Desjardins 11:25 in. Desjardins took the shot in place of Peter White, who was on a breakaway and hooked down from behind by Alexei Zhitnik.
White was shaken up when he hit the back of his head on the ice but returned in the second period.
It was the 36th penalty shot taken in playoff history, and first since Toronto's Mats Sundin beat Hasek in last year's conference final. The Flyers are 1-for-5 in playoff penalty shots, the only goal coming when Eric Lindros beat Buffalo's Steve Shields in 1997. The game was played in a raucous environment, as the sold out HSBC Arena was packed with fans expressing their displeasure over Friday's controversial goal.
One placard read: "Bettman and D'Amico are really Beavis and Butthead," in reference to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and John D'Amico, the senior game official supervising this series. Bettman, in an interview during a televised interview during coverage of the Florida-New Jersey playoff game, defended the NHL over the goal.
"It's unfortunate that it happened," Bettman said. "There is nothing wrong with the system, it just happened.
"Out of 6,000 goals, if this happens a handful of times you have to live with it."
Coincidentally, Sunday was the first playoff game Buffalo has hosted since the Sabres lost last June's sixth and deciding Stanley Cup final game against Dallas, which was won on Brett Hull's controversial overtime goal.
#2 WASHINGTON CAPITALS vs #7 PITTSBURGH PENQUINS
Pittsburgh leads 3-0
Next Game: Wednesday April 19th, 2000 7:30pm at Washington
The Washington Capitals can't hold a lead against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They'll find out now if they can play them from way, way behind.
Jiri Slegr's slap shot beat goaltender Olaf Kolzig with 4:32 remaining and the Penguins, luring the Capitals into an unwanted shootout, won 4-3 Monday night to seize a 3-0 Eastern Conference playoff lead.Jan Hrdina scored twice -- with four goals, he has as many as Washington in the series -- as the seventh-seeded Penguins moved within a victory of their second major playoff upset in two seasons.
The Penguins eliminated top-seeded New Jersey a year ago and now need one more victory to oust the second-seeded Capitals, who failed to hold a 1-0 lead for the second successive game.
"We feel good at 3-0 but they've got three of the next four there," the Penguins' Robbie Brown said.
Penguins goaltender Ron Tugnutt said, "The fourth game is always the hardest to win."
Game 4 will be Wednesday night in Washington, where Pittsburgh won 7-0 in Game 1, followed by Game 5, if necessary on Friday. The quirky schedule, which wound up benefiting the Penguins, resulted from scheduling conflicts at Mellon Arena and ABC-TV's request to televise Game 2.
"We know they can win four in a row because they were the better team during the season," Penguins star Jaromir Jagr said. "We're not looking to the second round yet because the first round isn't over."
Still, only two teams in NHL history have squandered a 3-0 playoff lead, the Penguins doing it last in 1975 against the Islanders.
"It's not over," Calle Johansson of the Capitals said. "They've still got one more to win. It sounds like a lot that we have to win four, but it's been done before. They say there are no rules without exceptions, so why not again?"
The Capitals, playing with the desperation of a team about to go down three games, tied it at 3 on Johansson's goal at 14:02, but Slegr won it less than two minutes later.
"You tie it up on the road and the momentum swings again," Steve Konowalchuk of the Capitals said. "We were right there. We were all believing we were going to win the game."
Martin Straka drew the defense by carrying the puck down the right-wing boards, then threw it across the ice to Slegr, who came off the bench to slam it past Kolzig from the left circle.
"Marty was being real patient and looking for someone," Slegr said. "I had so much time because everybody had gone down low. This is probably the best goal I've ever scored."
Hrdina scored a critical tying goal in the second period, then put Pittsburgh ahead 3-2 by taking Jagr's pass and steering the puck off Kolzig's glove at 2:13 of the third. Not long after that, Hrdina left with a strained muscle.
"That's a goal I can't let in, not in the playoffs," Kolzig said. "Every game you lose now makes it tougher."
Pittsburgh's offense was nonexistent for the first 25 minutes, managing only two shots in the first period while being outshot 19-5 at one point -- a virtual replay of Game 2, when Washington also opened a 1-0 lead.
"You've to play 60 minutes and they gave everything they had in the first 20 minutes," Jagr said. "After that, we started to skate better and make some better plays."
It took an unlikely source, the fourth line, to finally open up the Penguins' offense with an excellent shift that created several scoring chances and awakened a standing-room crowd of 17,148 in the NHL's oldest arena.
Not long after that, with Ulf Dahlen off for holding down Jagr along the rear boards, Hrdina skated down the slot to take Jagr's pass from the right circle and steer it past Kolzig at 8:04.
Pittsburgh kept pressuring after the power play goal and the fourth line scored this time, with Pat Falloon's wraparound deflecting off defenseman Sergei Gonchar's skate to make it 2-1 at 9:44 -- 1:40 after Hrdina's goal.
With most of the fans still celebrating the goal, Tugnutt unwisely abandoned the net as he tried to clear the puck, allowing Jeff Halpern to jam it into the net 11 seconds after Falloon scored.
Tugnutt, 11-2 against Washington the last four seasons, stopped 24 shots.
Washington's Chris Simon, returning from his one-game suspension for cross checking Peter Popovic to the jaw in Game 1, gave Washington the 1-0 lead at 15:39 of the first.
Simon, abandoned by defenseman Hans Jonsson in front of the net, went from his backhand to his forehand to lift a rebound of his own shot by Tugnutt.
Popovic, cited by coach Herb Brooks for his consistent shot-blocking in Game 2, missed the game with an apparent concussion resulting from the Game 1 hit.
Washington is 0-6-1 since last winning at Pittsburgh in November 1997. The Penguins are 6-1 against the Capitals this season.
#3 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #6 OTTAWA SENATORS
Toronto leads 2-1
Next Game: Wednesday April 19th, 2000 7pm at Ottawa
The Ottawa Senators accomplished their objective -- get to Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph. Rob Zamuner's second goal of the game past an angry Joseph helped the Senators end an eight-game playoff losing streak Monday night with a 4-3 victory over the Maple Leafs. The Leafs still lead 2-1 in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference first-round series. Game 4 is Wednesday night at the Corel Centre.
Joseph faced just 15 shots and was given a misconduct penalty for abusing referee Mick McGeough after Zamuner's second goal, at 14:17 of the third period.
The goalie, incensed at interference in the crease as Alfredsson wrestled with defenseman Cory Cross, skated out to argue, "lost an edge" and took McGeough down with him. Joseph stayed in the game as Cross served the penalty.
"If I was going to do that to a referee -- which I wouldn't do -- I wouldn't slide into him and have him fall on top of me," a much calmer Joseph said after the game. "I was just frustrated. I could see the puck and couldn't get to it."
The NHL is likely to review the incident to determine if a suspension is warranted.
Daniel Alfredsson and Colin Forbes also scored for the Senators.
"It's ironic -- we usually outshoot opponents," Zamuner said. "This time, we didn't get the shots but we got the win. So hey, don't ask questions."
Steve Thomas, Dmitri Khristich and Jonas Hoglund beat Tom Barrasso, who made 31 saves in response to criticism for soft goals in two Toronto victories last week.
"Feelings are overrated," Barrasso said. "It's getting the job done that matters. We did a lot of things well and we had great enthusiasm. We finished our checks. There were a lot of areas to improve and we have to keep doing that."
Ottawa, swept last season by Buffalo, had not won a playoff game since a victory over Washington in the second round in 1998.
The Senators, accused of playing passive in a 5-1 loss Saturday night at Toronto, slammed every Leafs player who touched the puck. Ottawa drew an early two-man advantage when Alyn McCauley and Kevyn Adams took penalties.
Ottawa outhit Toronto 38-29.
Alfredsson's shot from the left side slipped between Joseph's legs at 5:24 of the opening period, giving Ottawa the lead for the first time in the series.
Zamuner made it 2-0 when his pass across the crease went in off Thomas Kaberle's skate at 9:44 of the second, but Thomas banged in Gerald Diduck's rebound to put Toronto on the board 19 seconds later.
A turnover at the red line allowed the low-scoring Forbes to sweep in on the right side and beat Joseph high with a backhander 5:27 into the third.
Khristich banged in a Darcy Tucker pass on a power play at 10:18 before Zamuner's long shot got through. Hoglund got one back with 17 seconds left, making it 4-3.
Toronto's Nik Antropov left the game 7:40 into the first with an apparent knee injury after he missed Chris Phillips with a hit and banged heavily into the boards.
#4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS vs #5 FLORIDA PANTHERS
New Jersey leads 3-0
Next Game: Thursday April 20th, 2000 7:30pm at Florida
The New Jersey Devils know it's not over. But it sure is close.
Brian Rafalski had a goal and an assist and the Devils moved within one victory of advancing to the second round for the first time in three years with a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
The Devils took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 4 in the Eastern Conference playoff series is Thursday at Florida.
"I've been around too long to get too comfortable with a three-game lead," defenseman Ken Daneyko said. "Three games gets you nothing. You don't win until you get the fourth one."
Martin Brodeur -- and the Devils defense -- continued to stifle the Panthers and Pavel Bure. Brodeur stopped 21 shots, including 15 in the third period, and improved to 7-0-3 in his last 10 games against Florida.
Bure has yet to score, something he did 58 times in the regular season to lead the league.
"He is getting a lot of attention," Panthers coach Terry Murray said. "It is going to be difficult for him to get close to the net for any length of time."
Scott Stevens is making sure of that.
New Jersey's star defenseman continued to shadow Bure, limiting the Russian Rocket's shots and keeping him from skating in open ice. Bure managed just one shot and has eight in the series.
"This is where we wanted to be," Stevens said. "We don't want this to become a 3-1 series where they feel they have life. That's why Thursday is so important. The bottom line is we're not giving up a lot of scoring chances and I know that has frustrated them. It's what has put us in position to win this series."
The Panthers were outshot 31-7 through two periods, but goalie Mike Vernon kept the game tied 1-1.
Vernon made 38 saves despite allowing several rebounds. He made save after save, stopping a flurry of shots from point-blank range, but gave up two seemingly soft goals.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead at 9:19 of the first. Mike Sillinger sliced between two defenders, cut right at the crease and dropped the puck for Ray Whitney, who beat Brodeur to the left side of the net.
The Devils tied it in the second, scoring their first power-play goal of the postseason. New Jersey was scoreless in 11 man-advantage situations, including the first four on Tuesday.
But with Bure in the penalty box for elbowing, the Devils scored on Alexander Mogilny's slap shot from the right circle at 16:25.
Mogilny's shot deflected off Florida defenseman Bret Hedican's stick and slipped through the legs of Vernon. Rafalski and Stevens assisted on the play.
The Devils outshot Florida 19-1 in the second period, but Vernon -- fifth in career playoff wins with 77 -- kept the game tied.
At least until the third, when he allowed a 55-foot shot from Rafalski to slip into the net.
"It just hit my glove and just kind of rolls, kind of angles in on me," Vernon said. "It was kind of an unfortunate one and one I wish I could have back."
Only two NHL teams have come back from 3-0 deficits, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders. Nonetheless, the Panthers are optimistic they can still win the series.
"It's not like we're losing games by four or five goals," Alex Hicks said. "Things can turn around. We're just not getting that one goal like we need it. We just have to win this next one and go back to New Jersey."
The game was much more physical than the previous two, especially for the Panthers, who were called for six penalties. Enforcer Peter Worrell mixed it up early and often.
He forced Colin White to the ice -- and the bench -- in the first period. White left the game to have X-rays taken on his right forearm and did not return.