EASTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 5:
#1 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #7 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Series tied 2-2
Game time: Sunday May 7th, 2000 12pm at Philadelphia
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers hope they have something left in the tank this afternoon when they battle in Game Five of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Keith Primeau ended the third-longest game in NHL history 12:01 into the fifth overtime and sent the Flyers home on an ultimate high with a 2-1 victory over the Penguins on Thursday, evening the series at two games apiece.
The goal snapped a scoring drought of 107 minutes and 14 seconds in a game that began at 7:40 p.m. EDT and ended six hours and 56 minutes later with several fans asleep in their seats.
After Pittsburgh's Alexei Kovalev scored 2:22 in the first period, Philadelphia rookie goaltender Brian Boucher held the Penguins without a goal the rest of the way and finished with 57 saves.
It also gave the home-ice advantage back to Philadelphia in what is now a best-of-three series. The Flyers earned a victory in Game Three, 4-3, also in overtime on rookie Andy Delmore's second goal of the game.
However, home has not been kind to either team in the series as the road squad has won all four games.
Primeau's tally was his first goal of the series and just the second of the postseason. Known for not playing up to his potential in the playoffs, he has just eight goals in 79 career playoff games.
Pittsburgh looks to get some much needed production from Jaromir Jagr, who was held without a point for the second straight game in Thursday's marathon. Jagr, a nominee for the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player, is tops among all scorers in the postseason with 16 points and leads with eight goals.
Winning in the second round usually has not been as easy for the Penguins, whose last trip to the conference finals came in 1996.
Goaltender Ron Tugnutt finished with the second 70-save game of his career, also doing it for the Quebec Nordiques at Boston on March 21, 1999. He is one of the reasons why Pittsburgh has been in every game during this series despite being outshot, 189-115, in the four games.
The two teams were tied after the first four games of the 1989 Patrick Division semifinals. Pittsburgh went on to win Game Five, but Philadelphia won the final two to take the series.
#3 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Series tied 2-2
Game time: Saturday May 6th, 2000 7:30pm at Toronto
In what is now a best-of-three series, the Toronto Maple Leafs have regained home-ice advantage and look to send the New Jersey Devils to the brink of elimination tonight in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Tomas Kaberle scored with 1:35 left in regulation Wednesday, sending the Maple Leafs to a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Devils in Game Four and evening the series at two games apiece.
Kaberle's first-career playoff tally came 4:11 after Claude Lemieux tied the contest for New Jersey, which lost its first home postseason game.
"Going back home 2-2 is big," Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "Being down 3-1 is not fun. And the odds are you don't come back from it."
Toronto had a couple of very important firsts occur in Wednesday's triumph. The line of Mats Sundin, Steve Thomas and Jonas Hoglund played their first strong game of the series, with Hoglund recording his first goal and Thomas earning his first assist on the tally.
It was also the first time the Leafs had scored in the first period in the playoffs. They had gone the entire quarterfinal series against Ottawa and the first three games of this series without scoring in the opening 20 minutes before tallying twice in the first period in Game 4.
Goaltender Curtis Joseph was once again stellar in the net for Toronto, stopping 34 shots and improving to 6-4 in the playoffs. He has kept the Leafs in every game with key stops when his defense has failed.
Toronto is now in the same position it was in during the first-round series with Ottawa. In that matchup, the Leafs won the final two games to take the series.
For New Jersey, the club can take heed in that it has been in every game until the final horn. The Devils have outshot the Leafs in every game and have for the most part pinned Toronto in its defensive end for much of the series.
The key for New Jersey could be rookie Scott Gomez and Lemieux. Gomez, who was on the verge of being scratched from Game Two, has scored in each of the last two games and has seemed to regain the form which made him a nominee and favorite for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Lemieux, who leads the Devils in shots during the postseason with 32, finally scored his first goal of the playoffs in Game 4, but has been typically pestering the Leafs into taking bad penalties.
"I said since the first game if you score and don't win, it's no fun and it's not the objective," Lemieux said after Game Four. "You're excited when you tie it up but then you've got to finish it off.
Although he has played inspired hockey, one person who needs to break a long goalless streak is Bobby Holik. He is one behind Lemieux in shots, but has not scored a goal in postseason play since April 23, 1997, Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quartefinals against Montreal.
New Jersey is competing in its 11th series in which it was been tied after four games. The Devils are 4-6 in those situations, last winning in 1995, defeating Philadelphia in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals.