EASTERN QUARTER-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 2:
#1 NEW JERSEY DEVILS vs #8 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Series tied 1-1
Next Game: Sunday April 25th, 1999 2pm at Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Penguins don't know if Jaromir Jagr will be available when their playoff series with the New Jersey Devils resumes on Sunday.
Considering the way they played in Saturday's 4-1 victory over the Devils, the Penguins might not need him. "We have a great team," said Pittsburgh's Alexei Kovalev, who had a goal and an assist as the Penguins evened the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series 1-1. "It doesn't matter who is not in the lineup.
"If Jaromir comes back tomorrow, it doubles the power for our team."
Playing without the NHL's leading scorer, the Penguins put together a great all-around defensive game behind goaltender Tom Barrasso. Jagr, the Penguins' captain, was scratched right before game time because of a groin injury suffered in Thursday night's 3-1 loss to the Devils in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
The Penguins hope their top player can return for Game 3 on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
"We need him back and we need him as soon as we can," said Jagr's linemate, Kip Miller. "But we need him healthy. You don't want him to get hurt worse."
Jagr said he wasn't sure when he will return. He said he tried to go back to Pittsburgh on Friday for acupuncture treatments, but couldn't get a flight because of bad weather.
"If I could have played a little bit, I would have played," Jagr said. "They (the team) played excellent. Hopefully, they'll play the same way tomorrow whether I come back or not."
The Penguins didn't seem to miss their star forward, generally regarded as the top one-on-one player in the NHL. Even without Jagr, they were a different team than the one that finished 15 points behind the Eastern Conference leaders and lost four of five games to the Devils during the season and five straight counting the Game 1 defeat.
"We see teams around the league, when franchise players go down, they usually rally around," New Jersey center Bobby Holik said. "They didn't change their game. They just played better than they did on Thursday."
Aleksey Morozov, Greg Andrusak, Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev scored for Pittsburgh and the Penguins simply suffocated the Devils with a tight-checking defense that allowed few quality chances.
Barrasso stopped 25 shots before Dave Andreychuk finally scored for the Devils from in close with 8:19 left. Barrasso finished with 28 saves.
The Penguins' penalty killers played a big part, killing five New Jersey power plays. The Devils, No. 4 in the NHL on power plays during the regular season, have yet to score a goal with the man advantage on nine attempts in the series.
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 7:09 of the first period when Morozov scored on a rebound after Brad Werenka hit the goal post with a shot from the left circle.
The Penguins appeared to have scored a power-play goal 31 seconds into the second period, but Straka's goal was called off after a review showed that Morozov was in the crease.
Andrusak made it 2-0 at 3:19 of the second, scoring from the low slot with a quick shot after taking a great pass from Miller behind the goal line. Straka then scored one that counted, beating Martin Brodeur in front at 12:55. The Devils failed to clear the puck and German Titov at the side boards passed it to his teammate in front.
Kovalev put the Penguins ahead 4-0 when he scored at 1:41 of the third period on a deflection of Kevin Hatcher's shot from the right boards.
"We played awful," Devils left wing Brian Rolston said. "It doesn't matter if Jagr is in the lineup or out of the lineup, you still have to beat the other team on the ice."
#2 OTTAWA SENATORS vs #7 BUFFALO SABRES
Buffalo leads 2-0
Next game: Sunday April 25th, 1999 6:30pm at Buffalo
Joe Juneau returned from a concussion to deliver what could be a knock-out blow to the Ottawa Senators. Juneau scored one goal and set up two by linemate Miroslav Satan -- including the winner at 10:35 of the second overtime period -- to lift the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-2 playoff victory over Ottawa on Friday night.
The win gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference quarterfinal, with the series now shifting to Buffalo for Game 3 Sunday night and Game 4 Tuesday night.
"We felt it was just a matter of time," said Juneau, a late-season pickup by the Sabres who missed the end of the regular season and the series opener -- a 2-1 win Wednesday night -- while recovering from a concussion.
"We were really confident and we made sure nobody thought otherwise. Obviously, it's a great advantage going home up 2-0 with a chance to make it 3-0. I don't know what will happen, but we'd love to win it."
The overtime winner was the second of the game for Satan, who tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal at 6:43 of the third period.
Juneau opened the scoring 58 seconds into the game.
Shawn McEachern and Daniel Alfredsson scored power-play goals in the second period for the Senators, the series favorites who outshot Buffalo -- 47-39 -- for the second game in a row only to be thwarted by goaltender Dominik Hasek.
"We win one game and we're right back in it," said Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden. "Nobody in this room is counting us out.
"We've got to come back in Game 3."
While Ottawa held the upper hand in regulation, chances were even through the 30:35 of OT until Juneau got the puck to Jason Woolley, whose drive on the rush got through Damian Rhodes's pads to Satan at the edge of the crease.
"I got my pad down and got part of it," said Rhodes, who started in place of Ron Tugnutt. "It went across the crease and Satan was there. That's why he's a 40-goal scorer.
"This is something we've never faced before and it's a character builder. If we keep playing the same way, things should start going our way."
The Senators hope to emulate the 1966 Montreal Canadiens, who came back to win after losing the first two games of a series at home.
For a second game in a row, Ottawa captain Alexei Yashin was held without a point under close checking by Michael Peca, the Sabres' captain.
The two-referee system being used for the playoffs resulted in an abundance of penalties. Ottawa went 2-for-9 while Buffalo was 1-for-7 with the man advantage.
Like in Game 1, Buffalo scored early. Satan set up Juneau alone in front of Rhodes to score in the opening minute.
McEachern slid Nelson Emerson's rebound under Hasek on a power play at 2:53 of the second period and Alfredsson was in the slot to deflect Redden's point shot in on another power play at 12:04.
Peca's shot got behind Rhodes and Satan lunged in to poke it over the goal line and tie the game in the third.
"Coming out of here with a split would have been great for us," said Woolley. "But after winning that first game without really playing as well as we can gave us hope."
#3 CAROLINA HURRICANES vs #6 BOSTON BRUINS
Series tied 1-1
Next Game: Monday April 26th, 1999 7:30pm at Boston
Ray Sheppard has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. The right winger scored off a wild scramble with 2:55 left in overtime Saturday night to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins and tie their Eastern Conference series 1-1.
"I've seen him do it 100 times. He's money in the bank," said Carolina captain Keith Primeau, who also played on a line with Sheppard when the two were in Detroit in the mid '90s. "He has just got that ability to get himself in a spot to score big goals."
Defenseman Steve Chiasson held the puck in at the blue line along the boards to set up the game-winning goal, moving to the center of the ice for a slap shot that Byron Dafoe stopped.
But Dafoe gave up the rebound in a crowd. Martin Gelinas banged the first chance off the left post before it came right to Sheppard, who got his second goal of the game for the Carolina win.
"When I get in there, I just look for the puck. I don't look for anything else," said Sheppard, who scored his 26th and 27th career playoff goals. "Most guys get a little radar going to see where the puck is going and hopefully get a piece of it."
Dafoe said he got caught in traffic on Carolina's winning goal.
"I was just trying to get back because I was so far out making the original save," Dafoe said.
The Hurricanes overcame the loss of Ron Francis, who missed the game with a sprained ankle suffered in the series opener.
"With a guy like Ronnie out, you hope they respond," said Carolina coach Paul Maurice. "We played 82 games with Ron and then when you play one without him, you get a little nervous."
Carolina also had to play with only four defensemen from the second period on after losing Marek Malik to a thigh bruise and Nolan Pratt to a groin strain.
"Full marks to our guys on the back end," Primeau said of the team's four weary defensemen. "During the regular season that's even such an uphill battle for four guys, and for them to do that in a playoff game and in an extra full period of overtime, they were awesome for us."
Chiasson and Glen Wesley each skated more than 36 minutes on defense.
"I said before, you don't get too high off a win and you don't get too low off a loss in the playoffs," said Boston coach Pat Burns. "They came out and played us just as hard. We had them 2-1, but we made a couple of turnovers and they were able to respond.
"They battled us hard and we couldn't find a way. No excuses."
The score was tied 1-1 heading into the third period, and similar to Game 1, Boston appeared to have control of the defensive struggle when Steve Heinze scored with 11:28 left. Carolina goaltender Arturs Irbe, who stopped the original shot by Anson Carter in the slot, was unable to control the trickling puck behind him in the crease. A second or two after Carter's shot, Heinze tapped it in for a 2-1 lead.
But Carolina rallied down the stretch, a centering pass from the corner by Bates Battaglia ricocheting off the skate of Robert Kron and through the legs of Dafoe with 5:32 left to send the game into overtime tied at 2.
Kron, subbing for the injured Francis, had his back turned toward Battaglia when the puck hit off his skate.
After a scoreless first period, a great individual effort by Landon Wilson set up Sergei Samsonov's rebound goal early in the second period.
Dafoe, who led the NHL with 10 regular-season shutouts, blanked the Hurricanes 2-0 in Game 1. But he saw his postseason shutout streak snapped at 88+ minutes when Sheppard tied the score 1-1, beating the Boston goalie high on the glove side from the slot.
Paul Coffey, who didn't play in the first game because of a hamstring injury, helped on the goal for his 137th playoff assist -- tops all-time in the postseason among defensemen.
#4 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #5 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
Series tied 1-1
Next Game: Monday April 26th, 1999 7:30pm at Philadelphia
The Toronto Maple Leafs were looking for a hero when captain Mats Sundin stepped forward Saturday night. Criticized in some circles after Philadelphia's 3-0 win in Game 1 on Thursday for ineffective play, Sundin swept a backhand shot off a rebound over the right shoulder of Flyer goalie John Vanbiesbrouck with 52.4 seconds remaining, giving the Leafs a 2-1 victory and evening the best-of-7, first-round series at one win apiece.
Toronto scored both of its goals in the game's final two minutes after being blanked by Vanbiesbrouck for 118 minutes in the series.
"I don't read the papers or anything now," Sundin said of expectations of him. "I just shut myself down and worry about my game.
"Obviously, I know it's important for us and myself to have a good playoffs. I've never made it through the first round and the Stanley Cup is the biggest thing you can play for as a hockey player. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and I don't pay a lot of attention to what's going on around me. I just try to get my job done."
Games 3 and 4 are in Philadelphia on Monday and Wednesday, and Game 5 will be back at the Air Canada Centre on Friday night.
"Mats has got a lot of pressure on him," said linemate Steve Thomas, whose tying goal with 1:59 remaining ended Vanbiesbrouck's shutout string. "I don't know whether he feels it but it's induced by the media and it's tough for anybody.
"He knows he's our big player and he should produce. When you open the paper it's his name in there. He's looked to be the one who should carry our team to the promised land. But it's not one guy. It's 20 guys."
For most of Game 2, it appeared as if Toronto could use 50 guys and still not score.
Keith Jones scored in the first period, and the Flyers' defense-first strategy had the Leafs frustrated. The team that scored more goals than any other NHL team during the regular season couldn't get going.
Only some great saves by Curtis Joseph early in the game kept the Leafs in the game. Then Thomas scored and it was a new game -- for all of the 67 seconds it took before Sundin struck.
"Sergei (Berezin) made a good play coming around the net," Sundin said. "The puck rolled out and I was able to get it over Vanbiesbrouck's shoulder." The Flyers knew they'd let the win slip through their fingers. They'd been only two minutes away from a 2-0 series lead.
"We played well defensively but we could have played better offensively," said Jones. "We need to score more goals."
Sundin lauded the Flyers' effort.
"We were very frustrated after the first period," he said. "We came in (to the dressing room) and tried to talk to each other to settle each other down.
"After that, I thought we played better."
Just when it looked as if Philadelphia would post its second straight shutout, Thomas sped down the right wing around Chris Therien, cut to the net and sent a low backhander toward the Vanbiesbrouck. Somehow the puck found an opening between a leg pad and the post.
"Luckily it went in on a backhander," said Thomas. "I don't usually take backhanders because of the curve in my stick."
There was a great sense of relief in the Leafs' dressing room.
"It was a great comeback," said Curtis Joseph. "We've made comebacks all year and that kind of experience and confidence that we have scoring goals paid off tonight. We have enough firepower in this room and we showed that all year. We hoped it was only a matter of time before we broke through."