EASTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 6:
#1 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #7 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Philadelphia wins 4-2
Next Game: Philadelphia advances to the Eastern Conference Final vs New Jersey
Not even Jaromir Jagr's return could save the Pittsburgh Penguins in a series where the Philadelphia Flyers made the biggest comeback of all. Mark Recchi and John LeClair set up each other for goals and the Flyers, winning for the third time in a week in a rink where they once rarely won, eliminated the Penguins 2-1 Tuesday night in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Flyers went 3-0 in Pittsburgh -- they are 4-1 on the road in the playoffs -- to win 4-2 in a best-of-seven series that saw the home team win only once. They are the 13th NHL team to win a series after falling behind 2-0 at home.
"It says a lot about this team that we were down 2-0 and we came back to win three in their building," LeClair said.
The Flyers had won only two of their previous 15 games in Pittsburgh before the series turned dramatically as Philadelphia won twice in overtime in three nights, including last week's suspenseful 2-1, five-overtime decision.
"When we won Game 3 in overtime, that was the big thing," LeClair said. "Then when we won that game in five overtimes ..."
With rookie defenseman Andy Delmore scoring five goals -- as many as Jagr -- and Recchi adding two goals and five assists in the final two games, the Flyers move on to the conference finals against Atlantic Division rival New Jersey, starting at home on Sunday.
"We thought we were going to sweep them when it was 2-0," Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. "The momentum was on our side, history was on our side and then we let it get away."
The Penguins, rescued from bankruptcy by retired star Mario Lemieux a day before training camp began, were eliminated in Game 6 of the second round for the second consecutive season despite opening the series with their first two victories at Philadelphia in six years.
The Flyers' toughness and size -- and rookie goalie Brian Boucher's unflappable play -- and the two overtimes wore down the Penguins' largely European lineup after the Penguins outscored the Flyers 6-1 in the first two games.
"He (Boucher) might have gotten overlooked a little bit, but I thought he was our MVP," defenseman Luke Richardson said.
The Penguins, who had never before lost every home game in a playoff series lasting as many as six games, got a boost Tuesday from the return of Jagr, who was limited by a thigh injury to a couple of shifts in Sunday's 6-3 loss.
But Jagr, held scoreless in the final three games after scoring five goals in the first three, couldn't find the net on a couple of good, early scoring chances. The Flyers, who lost center Keith Primeau following a midice collision with Penguins defenseman Bob Boughner in the opening minute, also got a big lift by killing off a pair of early Penguins power plays.
"I think maybe we thought it was going to be easy after it was 2-0," Jagr said. "Losing that (third) game in overtime was tough. If we win either of the overtime games, we're up 3-1. It's not going to hit us for three or four days what happened to us."
Several Penguins said the turning point wasn't the five-overtime game, but when the Penguins squandered Jagr's two goals and an assist in the 4-3 loss in Game 3.
"We could have put the nails in the coffin then and we didn't do it," forward Matthew Barnaby said.
Boughner said, "That was a terrible waste."
He could have been referring to a Penguins power play that was 0-for-3 Tuesday, 0-for-12 while losing the final four games and 2-for-27 in the series.
By contrast, the Flyers got the critical first goal on a power play with the Penguins' Jiri Slegr off for interfering with Rick Tocchet.
Eric Desjardins' shot deflected off LeClair's skate in front of the net to Recchi, who steered it by goalie Ron Tugnutt at 11:04 of the first. It was Recchi's second goal in two games after being held to one goal in the first nine playoff games.
The same Flyers line made it 2-0 in the first minute of the second period as Recchi, the NHL's regular season assist leader, grabbed a rebound of Desjardins' shot, faked a wrap-around, then found an open LeClair at the side of the net for his sixth goal.
"That was the turning point," said Herb Brooks, who likely coached his final game with the Penguins. He is to be replaced by former Czech Republic coach Ivan Hlinka next season.
Richardson said, "After that, they looked really frustrated."
Desjardins, Delmore and Dan McGillis, the Flyers' top three defensemen, have a combined eight goals and 13 assists in 11 playoff games. Desjardins was particularly effective late in the series after being on the ice for seven of the Penguins' first eight goals.
The Flyers made the 2-0 lead stand up until Penguins forward Rene Corbet, a late-season pickup who hadn't scored in 15 games, scored at 10:46 of the third after Rob Brown grabbed a loose puck in the left circle.
Boucher withstood a flurry of Penguins scoring chances down the stretch and finished with 27 saves. Boucher turned aside 113 of the Penguins' final 118 shots in the series.
Primeau was carried off the ice on a stretcher after being run over by Boughner. Before the game, Boughner promised retaliation for being slammed in the chest by a Richardson slap shot in Game 5.
Seconds after a faceoff, Boughner skated across the neutral zone from along the right wing boards and leveled Primeau, who was skating up ice with his head down. Primeau was hospitalized overnight for precautionary reasons, but X-rays were negative. He was discharged from UPMC Presbyterian University Hospital on Wednesday.
#3 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS
New Jersey wins 4-2
Next Game: New Jersey advances to the Eastern Conference Final vs Philadelphia
Martin Brodeur was waiting for shots that never came. Now he's waiting for New Jersey's next playoff opponent. The Devils held Toronto to an NHL modern record-low six shots Monday night and eliminated the Maple Leafs from the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 3-0 victory. New Jersey, which captured the best-of-seven second-round series in six games, advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since winning the Cup in 1995.
"It's a great feeling to get past the second round," said Petr Sykora, who scored 18 seconds after the opening faceoff. "We just have to make sure we remain calm, we're just halfway there."
Jason Arnott made it 2-0 25 seconds into the second period and the Devils' defense made sure there would not be a Game 7.
"We never let those guys get back in the hockey game," said Brodeur, who earned his second shutout of the series and the eighth of his playoff career. "It's tough when you only get six shots -- it was hard to focus. That had to be one of my hardest games to play."
John Madden added an empty-net goal with six seconds remaining to seal the victory for the Devils, who held the Leafs to the fewest shots in any NHL game since the start of the expansion era in 1967, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"That was a great effort," Devils defenseman Scott Stevens said. "We didn't give them anything. We didn't want to give them life. We didn't want to go back to Toronto."
New Jersey will play the winner of the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh series which Philadelphia leads 3-2 with Game 6 at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
"This was as sweet a hockey game as you could see," Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko said. "It was nice for us, now we get on to another round and we hope we can build on it."
The Maple Leafs did not win the NHL championship for the 33rd straight year. Toronto has only reached the conference finals four times since its 1967 title -- including last year's loss to Buffalo.
Toronto's elimination assures that the Stanley Cup will be won by a franchise from the United States for a record seventh straight season, dating to Montreal's victory in 1993. The only time U.S. teams won the Cup six years in a row was 1936-41.
The Maple Leafs need to look no farther than their top line and their power play for why they could not match the regular-season success they held over the Devils. Jonas Hoglund was the only one of the trio, including Mats Sundin and Steve Thomas, to get a shot past Brodeur in the series.
"We didn't shoot the puck," Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "It is an ongoing problem for our hockey club. They want to see the back of the net before ... when you play a good defensive club, they take care of the play."
Toronto's previous playoff low for shots was 13 in a 3-0 loss to Philadelphia on April 15, 1975. The Leafs had three shots in the first period Monday, two in the second and just one in the third.
"I think we probably ended up with 13 or 14," forward Garry Valk said. "They always do that in this rink. They don't count as many as they have so it looks like you're not in the game."
Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph was credited with 24 saves.
Brodeur was hardly tested in adding this shutout to his 1-0 victory at Toronto in Game 2.
"I think Dan-O (Daneyko) had more saves than me," Brodeur said. "It's amazing how it came about, they were refusing to shoot from afar. It's not hard to get six shots.
"I can count six shots we shot on Cujo over the red line."
The Maple Leafs, 3-0-1 this season against New Jersey, failed in all 20 man-advantage situations during the six games.
"This was our best defensive effort," Sykora said. "Everybody was coming back -- not only the third guy, but the fourth and fifth guy."
The previous low for shots by a Devils opponent in a playoff game was 13, taken by Pittsburgh in a New Jersey loss last year.
Toronto's best chance Monday came on the Leafs' first shot of the game. Igor Korolev sent a blind back-hander from the slot at 7:35 that Brodeur swatted away with his glove.
"We showed a lot of depth," Daneyko said. "We did show some physical prowess. We wore them down as the series went on."
Sykora got things going for the Devils on the very first shift. Joseph stopped Arnott on the initial rush and deflected the puck behind the net. Patrik Elias kicked it back out in front where Sykora dug it out of traffic in the slot and wristed his fourth goal of the playoffs past Joseph's outstretched glove at 18 seconds. The goal came four seconds shy of New Jersey's playoff record for fastest goal at the start.
Arnott got a second goal for the line just at the start of the middle frame. Sykora fired a shot wide that was corralled by Daneyko, pinching in from the left point. Daneyko moved the puck behind the net to Sykora, who found Arnott in the slot. Arnott quickly put a shot between Joseph's pads at 25 seconds.
"I think we just wanted to finish it tonight, and we gave everything we had," Devils center Bobby Holik said. "We had to play like there was no tomorrow for us, and we did."