EASTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 5:
#1 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #7 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Philadelphia leads 3-2
Next Game: Tuesday May 9th, 2000 7pm at Pittsburgh
The last one took five overtimes. This one didn't take five minutes. Andy Delmore, whose game-winning goal started Philadelphia's comeback from a 2-0 series deficit, tied a playoff record for a defenseman with three goals as the Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 Sunday for a 3-2 lead in Eastern Conference semifinals. Mark Recchi had a goal and four assists and the Flyers fed off the momentum created by winning the third-longest game in NHL history -- and the fans who could barely wait until Sunday to celebrate it.
The Flyers, clearly revved up by their historic 2-1, five-overtime victory in Game 4 Thursday night -- the NHL's longest in 64 years -- scored Sunday in the opening minute of the first two periods. They owned a 3-0 lead with 16 seconds gone in the second period.
"It's all about confidence, and that's what winning the (five-overtime) game did for us," said Daymond Langkow, who scored with 23 seconds gone as the Flyers needed only 3:27 to open a 2-0 lead.
Recchi had only one goal in the Flyers' first nine playoff games, but said, "Everything was going in today. It was a huge start for us. We wanted to show them that we had a lot of energy even after the long game, and we were going to make it difficult for them."
The road team had won the first four games of the series. No team has won an NHL playoff series by winning four road games.
Recchi, a major contributor to the Penguins' 1991 Stanley Cup championship, had a hand in each of Philadelphia's first five goals, twice setting up Delmore, who had only two goals in 26 regular-season games.
Delmore, an undrafted rookie defenseman, has five goals in the series -- as many as NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr, who wasn't a factor for the second game in a row.
Jagr left early in the second period, apparently with a pulled left quadriceps muscle, as the seventh-seeded Penguins lost their third in a row after stunning the top-seeded Flyers in the first two games in Philadelphia. Jagr estimates he has a 90 percent chance of playing Game 6 Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
"It was hard to come back after the last game. It was tough on everyone," said Jagr, who won the scoring title despite missing a quarter of the season with various injuries.
The Penguins talked beforehand of getting off to a quick start to prove there was no carryover effect from the Flyers' middle-of-the-night victory that ended at 2:35 a.m. Friday. Instead, it was Philadelphia that came out flying.
The Flyers got a breakaway on their first shift, with Langkow steering in a backhander from the hashmarks along the right circle by goaltender Ron Tugnutt pass with 23 seconds gone.
TV replays appeared to show the puck glancing off Recchi's skate while he was offside, but, even if the goal shouldn't have counted, the Flyers had plenty more of them left.
Tugnutt, obviously flustered by giving up a quick goal after making saves on 70 of the Flyers' first 71 shots in Game 4, was beaten again at 3:27 by Delmore on a slap shot from the right point on a power play.
"That goal was like a Phil Niekro knuckler," said Tugnutt, who began the game with the best save percentage in the playoffs but was pulled after two periods.
Defenseman Dan McGillis said, "We got to him (Tugnutt) pretty early and the first goal might have shaken him up. Maybe the first two goals did take jump out of them."
The Flyers also scored in the opening seconds of the second period as Dan McGillis one-timed Recchi's pass by Tugnutt with 16 seconds gone.
"We couldn't recover in just 48 hours from Game 4, that was just a marathon, so we took short shifts all day, and that was a key," McGillis said.
Delmore also scored at 17:50 of the second, skating down the slot to take John LeClair's pass and flip it over Tugnutt, and added his third of the game at 5:17 of the third against backup goaltender Peter Skudra.
Recchi added a power-play goal in the second period, the Flyers' third goal in a span of four power plays after they started the series 0-for-17 with the man advantage.
"The goal in overtime the other night (in Game 3) was the highlight of my career so far," Delmore said. "When the third one went in today, that's a great feeling, too. There aren't words to describe how I felt."
Defensemen scored four of the Flyers' six goals, and Tugnutt said it's not a coincidence.
"Their best offense is their defensemen jumping into the play," he said.
Tyler Wright's goal at 15:06 of the second ended a scoreless streak of 184 minutes, 45 seconds by Flyers rookie goaltender Brian Boucher, who turned aside 29 of 32 shots. Darius Kasparaitis and Rob Brown also scored for Pittsburgh.
The Penguins now find themselves down 3-2 after winning the first two games on the road, a scenario with which they are very familiar.
In 1996, they lost the first two at home to Washington, then regained control by winning a four-overtime game that, until Thursday, was the third-longest in NHL history. The Penguins went on to win in six games.
"We had our chance at home but lost two overtime games, and that hurt a lot," Kasparaitis said of the Penguins' current predicament. "With a little luck, we're not even here today for Game 5. But I'm sure we'll see a Game 7."
The Flyers are trying to rally from a 2-0 deficit for the first time since they beat Toronto in six games in 1977.
#3 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS
New Jersey leads 3-2
Next Game: Monday May 8th, 2000 7pm at New Jersey
The New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs, meeting in the playoffs for the first time, quickly have developed an intense dislike for one another. Scott Gomez had two critical assists and the Devils moved within one victory of the Eastern Conference finals by beating Toronto 4-3 Saturday night as tempers boiled over on and off the ice. The Devils took a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven semifinal series, with Game 6 in New Jersey on Monday.
The end of the game was marred by several fights, while Maple Leafs fans littered the ice with garbage. One spectator tried to fight with a New Jersey player as the teams headed to their locker rooms.
Toronto's Darcy Tucker ignited the commotion when he took some swings at New Jersey goalkeeper Martin Brodeur at the final horn.
"I got four or five crosschecks to the back of the head standing in front of the net," said Tucker, who had a run-in with Brodeur in the second period after crashing into the New Jersey net.
"Then, at the end of the game, I'm on the ice and (Brodeur) sticks the end of his stick in my back and jabs me with it. I guess if he wants to do that, I'm going to run him over next game."
John Madden, a rookie who scored the Devils' last goal, can sense the growing animosity between the teams.
"I don't think there's history between the two franchises, but the players on the ice have played with each other and against each other and it's just a lot of love-hate relationship out there," Madden said. "I know a lot of guys in the room have a lot of strong feelings towards each other."
After the game ended, Toronto's Steve Thomas went after New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer, while Tucker threw a number of punches Brodeur. And the mayhem didn't end there.
"When we were coming off the ice, one of the Toronto fans tried to take liberties with one of our guys and came at him," Madden said. "But the security guys pulled him back and there was a little bit of yelling and obscene words used."
Brodeur laughed off the his skirmish with Tucker.
"I hit him with my stick," Brodeur said. "This is the playoffs. We'll turn the cheek and go on if they want to play that game."
New Jersey capitalized on two of five power-play chances Saturday and have scored five extra-man goals in the last three games.
Gomez played a big role as the Devils overcame two one-goal deficits to build a 4-2 lead.
After setting up Sergei Nemchinov's goal that tied the game 2-2 with 4:01 left in the second period, Gomez made a brilliant behind-the-back pass, setting up Vladimir Malakhov's go-ahead goal 7:47 into the third.
Just inside the Toronto blue line, Gomez faked a shot, freezing a Leafs defender, and passed to Malakhov. With Toronto's Kevyn Adams trying to stop him from behind, Malakhov snapped a 20-footer that beat Curtis Joseph.
And Gomez, the favorite to win the NHL's rookie of the year award, has regained his form after coach Larry Robinson threatened to bench him prior to Game 2.
"He had confidence to stick with me in the lineup and everyone's been positive here," said Gomez, who has two goals and five points in his last three games.
Madden upped the lead when he slapped a shot from the top of the left circle through a screen to beat Joseph with 5:53 remaining.
Patrik Elias scored the Devils' first goal.
The Maple Leafs closed within one when Sergei Berezin scored with 2:56 left, but they couldn't get tie.
Garry Valk and Jeff Farkas, who made his NHL debut in Game 4, also scored for the Leafs, who have yet to get much offense from their top line: Thomas, Mats Sundin and Jonas Hoglund.
The Maple Leafs' power play continued to struggle, finishing 0-for-2. They have gone eight straight games -- back to a first-round series against Ottawa -- without scoring a man-advantage goal.
Overall, Toronto's power-play is 2-for-41 in the playoffs. Only the Los Angeles Kings, 0-for-23 while being swept by Detroit in the first round, have been worse.