EASTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 4:
#4 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #8 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Series tied 2-2
Next Game: Saturday May 15th, 1999 7:30pm at Toronto
The Toronto Maple Leafs had every reason to feel nervous going into overtime, in a building where they already had lost and just one goal away from a potentially insurmountable 3-1 series deficit.
Now, it's the Pittsburgh Penguins who might be getting the jitters.
Sergei Berezin stuffed a rebound into an open net at 2:18 of overtime, giving the Maple Leafs a potentially momentum-shifting 3-2 victory over the Penguins on Thursday night.
The Penguins, in position to go two games up in the Eastern Conference semifinal series, couldn't hold a 1-0 lead and then lost because of a defensive glitch after tying the game on Brad Werenka's third-period goal.
Game 5 is Saturday night in Toronto, where two of the final three games will be played if the series goes seven games.
"That's a long way to come back and win a series," the Maple Leafs' Mats Sundin said of escaping the 3-1 deficit. "Now, 2-2 is a totally different scene."
Berezin nearly won it when his shot struck the goal post, only to get the game-winner a few seconds later. Defenseman Bobby Dollas failed to tie up Berezin in the corner, allowing Berezin to skate in unimpeded and push in the rebound of Garry Valk's shot.
"I went to the net and the puck was waiting for me. Even my son wouldn't miss that shot," Berezin said. "It's like a dream come true, the puck and an empty net."
Except for goaltender Tom Barrasso, who felt the sequence began rather inconsequentially.
"I thought it (Valk's shot) was a harmless shot from the point, but it deflected behind me into an open net," Barrasso said.
The Leafs outshot the Penguins 30-14, but most of Curtis Joseph's saves were big ones as Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead in the first and had most of the better scoring chances in the first 15 minutes of the second period.
"I thought we started out playing the way we wanted to, but we kind of fizzled after that," Barrasso said.
The Maple Leafs, one of the NHL's best teams at preserving third-period leads, couldn't do so for the second straight game. But overtime saved them again; they were 6-1-7 in OT during the season and 1-0 in their first-round series against Philadelphia.
"We were very confident going into the overtime," Valk said. "Teams that go far in the playoffs win close games and in overtime. We've been doing it all year. ... We've been opportunists all year, and I like our chances in close games.
Lonny Bohonos put them ahead 2-1 at 5:28 of the third. Bohonos, surprisingly moved onto Leafs' star Mats Sundin's line for Game 2 after playing in only seven regular-season games, also assisted on Sundin's goal and now has five points in three playoff games.
But the Penguins, who rallied from three deficits to win 4-3 in Game 3 Tuesday, got the tying goal less than two minutes later. Werenka fought his way into the crease area to bat in a Martin Straka shot that deflected off Robert Lang's stick at 7:10.
Four Penguins defensemen have scored in the last two games, and three of them -- Werenka, Dollas and Jiri Slegr -- have no other goals.
The Penguins opened the scoring for the first time since Game 1, something coach Kevin Constantine considered critical with two of his top four scorers out with injuries.
Alexei Kovalev, who has 11 points in 10 games, sprained a foot blocking a shot with three seconds to go in Game 3. German Titov sat out his second straight game with back spasms.
Constantine dismissed Toronto coach Pat Quinn's speculation that the Penguins seemed tired going into overtime.
"The guys we're missing are good players," he said. "But that's the nature of the playoffs. We were missing Jaromir Jagr (for four games) in the first round. So we don't really look for excuses."
But Sundin said, "We roll four lines out there and I think maybe they had a shorter bench. That may have been the difference. I think we were a little fresher at the end."
Playing on a reshuffled line that included center Lang for the first time, Jagr took advantage of Sylvain Cote's turnover in the Maple Leafs' zone to score at 5:00 of the first.
The Penguins had several good chances in the second period. But Joseph's strong play allowed the Maple Leafs to tie it at 16:57 on Sundin's fourth goal of the playoffs and third in three games, a rebound of Bohonos' shot that deflected off Barrasso's stick about chest-high.
#6 BOSTON BRUINS vs #7 BUFFALO SABRES
Buffalo leads 3-1
Next game: Sunday May 16th, 1999 2pm at Boston
Dominik Hasek made 24 saves as the Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins 3-0 on Friday night and moved within one victory of clinching their second-round series.
Alexei Zhitnik, Vaclav Varada and Michael Peca scored as the Sabres took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference series and improved their record to a playoff-best 7-1.
Seventh-seeded Buffalo swept the No. 2 Ottawa Senators in the first round and now can finish off the Bruins in Boston on Sunday and become the first team in the playoffs to move on to the conference finals.
Two of the last three games would be played in Boston if the Bruins were to stretch it to seven games.
Hasek made 10 saves in each of the second and third periods as he notched his fifth career postseason shutout and broke the team record he shared with Bob Sauve, who set it in 1983.
Zhitnik and Varada scored in the second period. Peca's first short-handed goal of the playoffs capped the scoring with 8:21 to play.
The Sabres have lost five of six playoffs to the Bruins, but now Buffalo has won seven of the last eight playoff games against Boston. That includes the Sabres' sweep of the Bruins in 1993, the last time the teams met in the playoffs.
Boston's season will end soon if history is any indication. In all 18 previous series the Bruins trailed 3-1 they never came back to win. Boston managed to win a second game after trailing 3-1 only three times and never tied any of the series.
The Sabres built 3-1 leads in two previous series and won both times in the fifth game, beating Chicago in 1975 and Philadelphia in the first round last year.
The Sabres, whose forechecking game and fans both were taken out of the first two periods of Buffalo's 3-2 comeback win in Game 3, brought both back with a vengeance Friday.
Buffalo scored the first goal on the power play when Zhitnik angled across center ice with the puck and slid it to Curtis Brown at the blue-line boards. Brown's cross-ice pass connected with defenseman Jason Woolley and Zhitnik tipped in Woolley's blast from the point at 8:20.
It was the third playoff goal for Zhitnik and sixth assist for Woolley. The goal gave Zhitnik a measure of revenge after the Bruins suggested they might target the Sabres defenseman for his hit from behind on Bruins captain Ray Bourque in Buffalo's win in Game 2.
The goal by Varada, his third of the playoffs, came with 17 seconds left in the second when Varada turned with a pass from Dixon Ward and launched a slap shot from the faceoff circle to the left of Dafoe. The low-angle shot beat the goalie to the far side.
The Sabres have scored on the power play in all eight of their playoff games this year.
Peca's score, his third of the playoffs and first shorthanded goal of the season, made it 3-0. Peca raced after a loose puck that caromed off the boards and shoveled it in at 11:39.
Second-year Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff's playoff record improved to 17-6 (.739), including 10-5 last season when the team advanced to the conference finals and lost to Washington 4-2. Ruff is one of nine NHL coaches with a minimum of 20 playoff games and a winning percentage of .600 or better.
The Sabres cracked Boston's tight defensive coverages for 16 shots on goaltender Byron Dafoe in the first period but couldn't score.
The Bruins nearly scored late in the first when Hasek skated out of his crease after a loose puck and Steve Heinze whacked a backhander at the net. The puck was deflected wide by Peca, who stopped the puck on one occasion in the series against Ottawa.
The Bruins pressured with 41 seconds of a 5-on-3 in the second period. Hasek came through with two saves, including his gloving of a wrist shot from the slot by Steve Heinze.
The Sabres, best among playoff teams at killing penalties at home, stymied seven Bruins power plays.