EASTERN QUARTER-FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 2:
#1 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #8 BUFFALO SABRES
Philadelphia leads 1-0
Game time: Friday April 14th, 2000 7pm at Philadelphia
It was gridlock in South Philly -- hockey playoffs, baseball game, Day 1 of the circus. It was nothing compared to the traffic jam in front of Dominik Hasek.
The Philadelphia Flyers, who have resembled a circus themselves in recent months, directed all their frustration on Hasek on Thursday night. They bombarded the Buffalo goalie with 30 shots and beat the Sabres 3-2 in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series.
With little space on the streets outside the First Union Center and even less in front of Hasek, the Flyers turned all their turmoil into momentum. The teams play Game 2 tonight.
"You can't afford to lose the second one," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.
Rookie Simon Gagne scored the tiebreaking goal with 14:27 left, capping one of the most frenzied of many scrambles in front of Hasek.
"I just saw the puck right in front of the net, and I saw Hasek down low," Gagne said. "So I just put the puck high in the net."
The Dominator, the arch enemy of any playoff opponent, was left shaking his head and muttering to himself.
"Maybe I'm a little surprised," said Keith Primeau, who assisted on Gagne's goal. "You're not going to score three goals against Dominik every night."
Hasek, who lost his stick at least four times, 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.
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. Langkow beat Hasek on a sneaky breakaway for a shorthanded goal.
"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.
"We weren't able to do what we wanted to do, and that is stay out of the penalty box," the Sabres' Michael Peca said.
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 is 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."
#2 WASHINGTON CAPITALS vs #7 PITTSBURGH PENQUINS
Pittsburgh leads 1-0
Game time: Saturday April 15th, 2000 2pm at Pittsburgh
The Washington Capitals were happy when an arena scheduling quirk cost them early home-ice advantage against the Penguins, with coach Ron Wilson even offering to play every game in Pittsburgh. In a couple of days, it might seem like the Capitals have done exactly that.
That unusual schedule now threatens to be the decisive factor in a series that started out like none of previous five Capitals-Penguins playoffs, but already is threatening to end like all but one of those did.
The Penguins seized home-ice advantage by dominating the Capitals 7-0 in Game 1 Thursday in Washington and, because of that aberrant schedule, now play the next two games in Pittsburgh. Game 2 will be today so ABC-TV can televise it, with Game 3 Monday night. The Capitals don't need a federal government statistician to tell them the predicament they face: split in Pittsburgh, or go back to Washington for what might be their second and last home game of the series down 3-0.
"We've got to be ready for Game 2, because they're going to be a lot better," Penguins star Jaromir Jagr said.
Still, this is almost the worst-case scenario for the Capitals, who held a regular-season advantage over every Eastern Conference opponent except ... Pittsburgh.
Wilson's not-serious remarks about winning even if every game was in Pittsburgh significantly riled up the Penguins, and he understands now this isn't a time for frivolity.
"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," said Wilson, very aware of the Capitals' 1-4 record against Pittsburgh this season.
Something else won't make the Capitals feel any better: the "Burn the Floor" Latin dance show that was supposed to tie up Mellon Arena next week, causing the NHL to alter the series schedule, has been canceled.
Neither will this: their top scorer, physical forward Chris Simon, was suspended Friday for Game 2 for cross-checking Penguins defenseman Peter Popovic in Game 1.
Wilson must be wondering now if he should have taken the NHL's offer of playing the first two games in Washington in two days before shifting the series to Pittsburgh.
"That's just the way the scheduling is, that's the way it's going to have to be," the Capitals' Calle Johansson said. "We're prepared to go into Pittsburgh and beat those guys now."
Penguins coach Herb Brooks said, "We know this is a long, long series. But it's a good start."
One that the Penguins aren't accustomed to owning against Washington. The Penguins won four of five playoff series against the Capitals in the 1990s, rallying from two-game deficits three times. Each time, the Capitals won Game 1.
Remarkably, Wilson said before Game 1, "They may beat us 8-1 in one game. The response in Washington will be, 'Everything is over.' But it won't be. It's a seven-game series."
The Capitals could seize back home ice by splitting in Pittsburgh. After Game 3, three of the next four games would be in the MCI Center. But the Capitals can't afford to take unwise penalties -- only one goal Thursday was at even strength -- and allow the Penguins play the free-flowing, European style they so love.
One sequence illustrated what kind of night it was for Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig, who was pulled with the score 6-0. After turning aside a Jagr breakaway, he disgustedly swiped at his water bottle, causing it to clatter onto the ice -- right into the path of Tyler Wright, who was skating down the wing to score on yet another breakout.
"I'm not worried about Olie," Wilson said. "We really let him down. It was inexcusable."
The Capitals' game plan for what could be a very pivotal Game 2 is simple; take away the Penguins' speed and force them into the tight-checking, low-scoring game they so dislike. And, oh, yes, get the early lead; they are 31-6-6 when scoring first and 20-3-5 when leading after the first period.
Still, the Capitals have problems aplenty, not the least of which is Jagr's improving physical condition. After missing most of the final quarter of the regular season with a variety of injuries, Jagr had four assists in Game 1.
"This is the best I've felt in weeks," he said.
The Penguins also find themselves in good shape unless, as forward Matthew Barnaby said, they get too overconfident.
"What their coach said went up on our bulletin board," he said. "Now, we have to be careful not to say anything."
#3 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #6 OTTAWA SENATORS
Toronto leads 1-0
Game time: Saturday April 15th, 2000 7pm at Toronto
The Toronto Maple Leafs have to rally around another devastating blow to their team tonight as they look to take a two games to none series lead over the Ottawa Senators in the "Battle of Ontario". The Maple Leafs, who already are without defenseman Bryan Berard dur to a career-ending eye injury, lost Yannic Perrault in a 2-0 victory in Game One on Wednesday.
Perreault suffered a left knee injury when checked into the boards by defenseman Jason York in the third period and the center could miss the rest of the postseason for the Leafs.
The injury soured a brilliant performance from goaltender Curtis Joseph, who stopped 30 shots for his ninth career shutout. Darcy Tucker, who was rescued from lowly Tampa Bay in February, scored his first playoff goal to break a scoreless tie in the second period. His last appearance in the playoffs came during his time with Montreal in 1997.
"I've come a long ways since my days in Montreal," Tucker said. "I played my heart out in Tampa Bay. I want to contribute to the hockey club any way I can. That makes me very proud inside."
The loss of Shawn McEachern and Wade Redden clearly slowed the Ottawa offense. Marian Hossa, who will have to come up big in this series if the Senators have a chance to win, was minus-1 with only two shots.
Goaltender Tom Barrasso played well, allowing only Tucker's goal, and finished with 19 saves for the Senators, who have lost their last eight postseason road games.
Toronto last enjoyed a two-game lead in a playoff series in the 1995 Western Conference Quarterfinals against Chicago. However, the Leafs lost the next three before bowing out in seven games.
Ottawa has fallen behind two games twice since re-entering the league in 1992-93 and has never recovered to win the series.
#4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS vs #5 FLORIDA PANTHERS
New Jersey leads 1-0
Game time: Sunday April 16th, 2000 7:30pm at New Jersey
The return of New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer should make the Devils' series with the Florida Panthers even more intense when the teams meet Sunday night in Game 2. New Jersey started the series without Niedermayer, who served a 10-game suspension for chopping Florida's Peter Worrell over the head on March 19. Worrell was ejected from the same game after making a "throat slashing" gesture at several Devils players.
The teams met twice in April without incident, but Panthers right wing Mark Parrish said "it would have been more of a street fight and a bloodbath" if the game was played at midseason.
Thursday's opener, a 4-3 New Jersey victory, was relatively quiet. There was one penalty -- on Worrell -- through the first two periods. The other came with 14:26 left in the game when New Jersey's Vladimir Malakhov was whistled for interference, but the Panthers managed only one shot and iced the puck as the infraction expired.
The Devils could still be without a regular blueliner after Ken Daneyko strained an abdominal muscle on Thursday and may miss tonight's contest. Center Jason Arnott might also be sidelined after suffering a sprained right wrist in Game 1.
New Jersey jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead in Thursday's opener, but had to hold on for the victory. Scott Stevens, Petr Sykora and Sergei Brylin scored first-period goals before rookie Scott Gomez tallied what proved to be the game-winner near the midway point of the second.
Florida came within a goal twice in the game, but could not find the equalizer. Worrell scored with 17 seconds remaining in the first period that cut the deficit to 3-2 before Mike Sillinger cut it to 4-3 late in the third.
Pavel Bure, whose father Vladimir trained Brylin and Gomez and is rooting for New Jersey because of his tepid relationship with his son, also scored for Florida. The "Russian Rocket" won the Maurice Richard Trophy after leading the league with 58 goals, 14 more than his closest competitor, including three in four games against the Devils during the season.
New Jersey is trying to take a two games to none lead in a series for the first time since the 1997 quarterfinals, when it disposed of Montreal in five games. Ironically, it was the last time the Devils made it out of the first round, losing to Ottawa and Pittsburgh in the two years since.