EASTERN QUARTER-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 3:
#1 NEW JERSEY DEVILS vs #8 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Pittsburgh leads 2-1
Next Game: Tuesday April 27th, 1999 7:30pm at Pittsburgh
History seems to be repeating itself -- the Pittsburgh Penguins are winning without hockey's best player, and the New Jersey Devils are losing a playoff series they supposedly couldn't lose.
With an injured Jaromir Jagr still out, the Penguins scored twice in the opening 40 seconds of the third period and got three goals from Martin Straka to win 4-2 Sunday and grab the lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Straka and Alexei Kovalev scored 27 seconds apart to overcome a 2-1 deficit as the eighth-seeded Penguins rallied for a victory just as unlikely as Saturday's Jagrless 4-1 decision at the Meadowlands.
"It's not about who is playing, it's about how hard you're playing," said Kovalev, who is centering the top line in Jagr's absence. "When Jaromir Jagr is in the lineup, we're a better team. But that doesn't mean we can't win (without him)."
Straka also scored in the first period as the underdog Penguins took a 1-0 lead for the third straight game. Straka also scored into an empty net with 17 seconds remaining for his first career playoff hat trick.
"We're proving that no one player is more important than the team," forward Rob Brown said of the Penguins, who haven't won a first-round series since 1996.
The top-seeded Devils are proving they've haven't erased their playoff meltdowns of 1998 and 1997 from their memory bank.
They now find themselves down 2-1 in a series that increasingly resembles their stunning first-round elimination by No. 8 Ottawa last year. In 1997, the No. 1-seeded Devils were taken out by the Rangers in the second round.
"But it's not the same feeling as last year," Devils defenseman Brad Bombardir said. "We feel much better about ourselves than we did in that series."
The Penguins also seem to be lifting a chapter from their own playoff history by replicating the steely determination that allowed them to upset the No. 1-seeded Rangers without an injured Mario Lemieux in 1992.
"We're all trying to make up for him (Jagr) because one player can't make up for him," defenseman Kevin Hatcher said. "It's a big lift to have arguably the best player in the world out and beat a solid team two games in a row."
Jagr's status for Game 4 Tuesday is uncertain -- the NHL scoring champion didn't even try to skate during warmups -- but the urgency created by his absence actually may be benefiting the Penguins.
Looking nothing like the team that won only twice in its last 12 regular-season games, the Penguins clearly frustrated the Devils by using their forwards like defensemen to slow New Jersey's up-ice rushes, create turnovers in the neutral zone and eliminate odd-man opportunities.
Still, the Devils had their chances -- they once led 22-7 in shots and finished with a 33-22 edge -- and they used a two-man advantage in the second period to take a 2-1 lead on Jason Arnott's power-play goal at 15:53.
But that 40-second stretch that saw a 2-1 Devils lead turn into a 3-2 deficit potentially might have wrecked their season if they go on to lose the series.
"We were all pretty flabbergasted that happened," defenseman Ken Daneyko said. "Shocked? Stunned? Yes. We started (the third period) terribly flat and they came out flying."
The longer the Penguins hung around, the more confidence they built, and they got the less-than-sellout crowd of 15,944 back into the game by tying it only 13 seconds into the final period on Straka's second goal.
German Titov's shot from the right circle rebounded directly to Straka at the left of the net, and he stuffed it by Martin Brodeur almost before the goaltender had regained his game legs from the between-periods break.
Nearly as quickly as the Penguins tied it, they took the lead.
After the Penguins again won the faceoff, Kovalev accelerated past defenseman Scott Stevens and, skating past the goal line, directed a shot by Brodeur inside the far post.
"I don't think it's acceptable for our hockey team to have 40 seconds like that," Devils center Bobby Holik said. "When you play as well as we did, it's just a lack of concentration. We have to be very hard on ourselves."
Tom Barrasso, who stopped 31 shots, turned away several good scoring chances after that, but the Devils' biggest weapon during the regular season -- their ability to win on the road -- somehow eluded them.
"Anytime you lose Jaromir Jagr, you can't play as well as you can play, but Tom Barrasso has been the biggest piece of the puzzle," Penguins defenseman Matthew Barnaby said.
The Devils set an NHL regular-season record by going 28-10-3 away from home, but that road magic eluded them in their seventh consecutive road playoff loss.
Sergei Brylin also scored for the Devils on the power play at 12:57 of the first, making it 1-1. But a number of lineup changes by coach Robbie Ftorek, who benched center Sergei Nemchinov, forward Dave Andreychuk and defenseman Sheldon Souray, clearly did not have the desired effect.
#2 OTTAWA SENATORS vs #7 BUFFALO SABRES
Buffalo leads 3-0
Next game: Tuesday April 27th, 1999 7pm at Buffalo
Buffalo and Ottawa had battled to overtime in six of seven games this season. This time the Sabres had it easy.
Brian Holzinger scored twice and Dominik Hasek made 15 of his 31 stops in the third period as the Sabres beat the Senators 3-0 Sunday to take control of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
The seventh-seeded Sabres, leading 3-0 in the best-of-7 series, go for a sweep of No. 2 Ottawa when the teams return to Buffalo's Marine Midland Arena for Game 4 on Tuesday night.
"I got the right bounces here tonight," said Holzinger, who broke out of a scoring slump that saw him get one goal in the last 30 games of the regular season and none in the first two playoff games.
"The series isn't over yet," said Senators center Alexei Yashin, who leads his team in frustration without a playoff point so far after scoring 44 goals during the season. "We have our last chance and we will come out hard."
Hasek, who faced a total of 88 shots in the first two games of the series, tied a team record for playoff shutouts with his fourth.
The Sabres helped their goaltender in part by limiting their penalties to five in the game and only one in each of the first two periods. "For sure we played a much more disciplined game tonight," Hasek said.
Dixon Ward scored the first goal for Buffalo, which last year upset Philadelphia in five games and swept Montreal before losing to Washington in the conference finals.
"We played real smart," Ward said. "We worked hard and didn't make too many mistakes. Our defense played outstanding."
Ottawa will try to become the first team to win a Stanley Cup series after losing the first three games since the New York Islanders fought back against Pittsburgh in 1975. Only one other team has done it -- the 1942 Maple Leafs over Detroit in the finals.
The Sabres and Senators had played 53 minutes of overtime this season, including a half hour of OT in Game 2 of the playoffs. This time the Sabres opened things up and outshot the Senators through two periods 20-16 while building a 3-0 lead.
Yashin, playing with a Sabre constantly glued to him and harassed by a crowd that chanted his name, was held to no points for the third straight game. He also was penalized twice.
"It's got to be frustrating for him not to contribute to his team offensively," said Sabres captain Michael Peca, one of the Sabres sent to shadow Yashin. "He's a guy who's capable of winning a game on his own."
"It's nothing new for me," Yashin said. "The puck's not going in the net. It happens sometimes."
Ward gathered in Peca's pass from behind the net and flipped it through a screen past Damian Rhodes at 4:06 of the opening period.
The Senators' best scoring chance of the game came four minutes later when Andreas Johansson carried the puck into the Buffalo zone and fired a slap shot from the right circle that struck the post.
Holzinger, who hadn't scored a goal in 18 games, put Buffalo up 2-0 at 7:47 of the second period. Holzinger spun away from defenseman Sami Salo at the bottom of the right circle and tucked the puck between Rhodes' pads.
"I just tried to get the puck on the net," Holzinger said. "It was one of those fluky things. When you get the puck on the net strange things happen."
Strange things were good for Holzinger, who added a power-play goal on a tip-in at 12:33 of the second for a 3-0 lead. Holzinger won a faceoff to Rhodes' right and got the stick on Jason Woolley's blast from the top of the right circle.
"We didn't feel the game was over after the first period and we didn't feel it was over after the second," Rhodes said. "We have to accept our situation. We can't get down."
"Right now it's a moment of adversity, and we have to make sure we're on the same page and pull together," said Ottawa coach Jacques Martin.
Buffalo's top scorer, Miroslav Satan, sustained a bruised foot when he was struck by a shot in the second period. X-rays were negative and Satan will try to skate Monday. Satan scored the tying and winning goals in Game 2.
#3 CAROLINA HURRICANES vs #6 BOSTON BRUINS
Carolina leads 2-1
Next Game: Wednesday April 28th, 1999 7pm at Boston
There was disagreement over how the winning goal was scored. There was none about what it meant for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Their 3-2 win Monday night gave them a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Boston Bruins, but no one was getting carried away.
"We probably take as much confidence out of this one as Boston took out of the first one," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. The Bruins won that 2-0, then lost the next two games.
The Bruins know they're not in a desperate situation heading into Wednesday night's fourth game of the best-of-7 series.
"It's not bad yet," Boston's Ray Bourque said. "If we lose the next one, it's going to be bad."
The Bruins lost Monday night on a goal at 2:54 of the third period credited to Andrei Kovalenko that was confirmed when video replay showed the puck entered the crease before Kovalenko's skate got there.
Kovalenko said the puck never touched him, and Bruins coach Pat Burns said it went off goalie Byron Dafoe's glove. But Dafoe said he thought it hit Kovalenko's skate. The official scorer seemed to agree -- if the puck didn't hit Kovalenko, the goal should have been given to Robert Kron, who passed the puck from behind the goal line.
"In this series you can't be fancy," Kron said. "You just have to throw the puck at the net and take your chances."
Said Burns: "The puck was in the crease before he (Kovalenko) went in. It bounced off Byron's glove hand and went in the net and that's a break I wish we could get, but you have to make your breaks."
The Bruins split the first two games in Carolina, but a return home wasn't enough to give them the series lead against a tough forechecking team that limited their opportunities. In last year's playoffs, they were 0-3 at home in losing the first round to Washington in six games.
"We can't just go out and play a good game (Wednesday). We have to play an outstanding game," Dafoe said. "I don't think we have to change a lot. We have to be intense and go hard for 60 minutes."
The Bruins have lost their last four playoff series, while the Hurricanes are in the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons, two in Carolina after moving from Hartford.
"Both teams are evenly matched," Carolina's Ray Sheppard said. "We knew when we left home we needed to come here and get one. It was nice to get the first one."
Goals by Carolina's Gary Roberts and Sheppard, who scored to win Game 2 in overtime, and Boston's Sergei Samsonov and Anson Carter left the game tied after two periods.
Dafoe, who led the NHL with 10 regular-season shutouts and added one in the playoff opener, lost his bid for another just 1:05 into the game.
That's when Roberts scored his first goal of the playoffs. Jeff O'Neill put the puck in front of the net to the left of Dafoe, who sprawled after it. Roberts then gained control and scored from in close on the first shot of the game.
It was the earliest playoff goal in franchise history. The previous record was Dean Evason's goal 1:06 into a 5-4 loss to Quebec on April 16, 1987.
The Bruins tied the game at 9:48 of the first period with excellent teamwork. Landon Wilson bumped Dave Karpa off the puck in the right corner and passed back along the right boards to Joe Thornton. He quickly relayed the puck across the slot, where Samsonov connected from 15 feet against goalie Arturs Irbe.
Boston went ahead with its first goal on nine power plays in the series when Carter scored at 13:07 of the second period on a deflection of Jason Allison's blast from the right point.
But the lead lasted barely two minutes. Carolina scored on a power play after the Bruins, who led the NHL in penalty killing, were penalized for having too many men on the ice. Sheppard got his third goal of the series on a pass by Keith Primeau across the slot from right to left. Dafoe dived in Sheppard's direction, but the puck went under the goalie's stick.
The Hurricanes played their second straight game without Ron Francis, who sprained his ankle in Game 1 after leading the team in scoring in the second half of the season. Boston lost defenseman Dave Ellett with a neck injury in the first period.
#4 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #5 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
Toronto leads 2-1
Next Game: Wednesday April 28th, 1999 7pm at Philadelphia
This was exactly why the Maple Leafs signed Curtis Joseph. Joseph made 40 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Flyers 2-1 Monday night, taking command in their first-round playoff series. The Maple Leafs took a 2-1 lead in the series despite getting outshot 41-21.
Joseph outplayed Flyers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, who had held the Leafs scoreless in the first 118 minutes of the series. But Toronto might have turned the momentum of the series with two goals in the final two minutes of Game 2. It carried over to the pivotal third game.
The Flyers, playing without injured superstar Eric Lindros, are 5-11 in seven-game series in which they trail 2-1. Philadelphia has lost five of its last six home playoff games.
Steve Thomas, maligned in Philadelphia for a hard check on Eric Desjardins in the second game, scored the game-winner on a power play 40 seconds into the second period. It snapped an 0-for-15 power-play drought in the series, and 0-for-33 including the end of the regular season.
Mike Johnson also scored for the Leafs, and Karl Dykhuis scored the Flyers' only goal -- a shot that Joseph didn't see because he was screened.
Philadelphia was 0-for-5 on power plays, including a six-on-four advantage in the final 65 seconds when it pulled Vanbiesbrouck.
Joseph, nicknamed "Cujo," was magnificent. He made 11 saves in the third, stopping John LeClair from the side of the net for save No. 33.
His 35th save was spectacular, too. Joseph tipped Keith Jones' close-in backhander with his skate, then stopped a shot from the point and a rebound for saves No. 38 and 39. He finished the job with 4� minutes left, absorbing a shot by Rod Brind'Amour with his chest and pouncing on the rebound.
The Flyers had been miffed by hard checks by Kris King and Thomas in Game 2, but the chippy play that some expected didn't really develop.
Dykhuis, whose first playoff goal gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the first, proved that the best way to beat Joseph is with shots he can't see.
Working the left point, Dykhuis waited for LeClair's screen to develop and fired a shot that whizzed between LeClair and Mikael Renberg. It went over Joseph's right shoulder with 3:44 left in the period. Joseph, signed as a free agent last summer, was looking to his left and didn't see the puck until it was in the net.
But the emotional lift was short-lived for the Flyers, who were stunned by Johnson's goal 10 seconds later. Chris McAllister bounced the puck off the boards after the faceoff at center ice, and Steve Sullivan pushed it ahead to Johnson. His weak backhander surprised Vanbiesbrouck, who had his stick in the air and his feet nearly crossed as the puck deflected in off his skate.
Craig Berube, the Flyers' resident goon, committed a senseless penalty with 13 seconds left in the first, skating into Thomas and knocking him down during a stoppage in play. It came back to haunt the Flyers when Thomas scored his second playoff goal.
Vanbiesbrouck, who showed early signs of shakiness, barely moved as Thomas' shot sailed past him on the stick side.