EASTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 6:
#4 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs #8 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Toronto wins 4-2
Next Game: Toronto advances to the next round vs Buffalo
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to the Eastern Conference finals. The Pittsburgh Penguins only wish they knew where they were going.
Garry Valk, a discarded Penguin, scored his first two career playoff goals and the Maple Leafs ousted the bankrupt Penguins from their second-round series, 4-3 in overtime of Game 6 Monday night.
The Maple Leafs, in danger of falling behind in the series 3-1 only five days ago, won the final three games, two in overtime.
"There's such a fine line between winning and losing in overtime," Mats Sundin said of Toronto's 3-0 overtime record in these playoffs. "When we get into overtime, we seem to find a way to win."
Toronto advances to the conference final, against either Buffalo or Boston, for the first time since 1994. The Penguins face an uncertain future in bankruptcy court that could see the franchise sold to Mario Lemieux's investment group, dissolved or moved by next month.
Valk's winner at 1:57 of overtime was eerily reminiscent of Sergei Berezin's OT goal in Game 4 Thursday in Pittsburgh.
After Yanic Perreault won a faceoff, Berezin's shot rebounded off goaltender Tom Barrasso to a skidding Valk, who pushed it into the empty net as he left his skates.
"When he is shooting, I'm trying to go to the net," Valk said. "Barrasso stepped on it and it came loose. I tried to crosscheck (Jiri) Slegr out of the way and the puck was just laying there. It was an ugly garbage goal."
Maple Leafs fans haven't seen anything so beautiful since 1994, when Toronto lost to Vancouver in the Western Conference finals.
For the Penguins in this series, it was overtime and out. Coincidentally, the Penguins were one of the NHL's best regular-season teams in overtime: 7-1-14.
"In overtime, it's whoever gets the lucky bounce," the Penguins' Rob Brown. "They got two of them."
When training camp started this season, Valk didn't know if he would have a job. He admitted to being extra motivated against the team that cut him.
"Last year was a tough year for me. It's nice I got a second chance," said Valk, who had two goals in 39 games for Pittsburgh last season. "Coming from where I came from, sitting at home with no job to playing in the playoffs, this is for all of the other guys who don't have jobs and want to play in the NHL."
Toronto trailed 2-0 with less than 15 minutes gone, but Lonny Bohonos and Valk scored 26 seconds apart early in the second period to neutralize Pittsburgh's strong start.
Berezin then gave the Maple Leafs their first lead at 11:43, a slap shot from near the top of the right circle moments after Perreault won a faceoff.
Suddenly down 3-2 less than 12 minutes after holding a two-goal lead, the Penguins regained the urgency they had in the opening minutes and tied it on -- who else? -- Jaromir Jagr's goal at 14:41.
Jagr skated to the top of the crease to put in Kip Miller's pass from the left circle, his fifth goal in his last nine playoff games. He missed four games and was hampered in several others by a groin injury.
The Penguins, held to 30 shots while losing the previous two games, came out shooting on every opportunity and built up 14 shots -- and their two-goal lead -- in less than 15 minutes.
Curtis Joseph, who stopped 25 of 28 shots, turned away several good scoring chances while making seven saves in the opening 3:50. But the Penguins scored at 5:04 when Jagr grabbed his own rebound behind the net and fed to Brown.
Alexei Kovalev, back in the lineup after missing two games with a sore ankle, scored at 14:06 on the Penguins' 14th shot, as many as they had in losing Game 4. Pittsburgh was 0-3 in the playoffs when Kovalev was injured.
Even though it was possibly the Penguins' last game in Pittsburgh, only one banner in a sold-out Civic Arena referred to their possible demise. Hanging a few feet below their two Stanley Cup championship banners, it read: "Let's Go Pens ... Forever."
"This group at any point of the season could have latched onto a reason to not do well: the bankruptcy, the injuries we suffered, playing 13 different defensemen," coach Kevin Constantine said. "They refused to do that. They wanted to win a Stanley Cup badly. My disappointment is for them."
#6 BOSTON BRUINS vs #7 BUFFALO SABRES
Buffalo wins 4-2
Next game: Buffalo advances to the next round vs Toronto
It's final. Buffalo and Toronto will meet in the playoffs for the first time to decide who will face off for the Stanley Cup.
The Sabres advanced to the Eastern Conference final against division rival Toronto with a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 6 Tuesday night.
The fans chanted "We want the Leafs!" as the Sabres smothered the Bruins' offense and wound down a relatively easy night for injured goaltender Dominik Hasek.
The Sabres will play the Maple Leafs in Game 1 on Sunday in Toronto. It marks the first appearance by a Canadian team in a conference final since 1994, when Vancouver ousted Toronto.
"It's going to cost me a lot in tickets," said Sabres defenseman and Toronto native Jason Woolley.
Michael Peca, Wayne Primeau and Curtis Brown scored and Geoff Sanderson had a pair of assists as Buffalo limited Boston to 25 shots on Hasek, including only five in the second period.
Like Woolley, Peca grew up as a Maple Leafs fan. "Jason and I were talking about the Toronto fans celebrating and honking their horns after they won the other night," Peca said. "That used to be us."
Hasek showed no ill effects of an old groin injury that flared up in Buffalo's loss in Game 5, but the Sabres didn't let the Bruins test him too much. "My groin is pretty stable," Hasek said. "It's still not 100 percent OK, but it was good enough to win."
Steve Heinze tied the game for Boston in the first period and Joe Thornton threw a scare into Buffalo with a goal with a minute to play.
Boston had the flow going its way in the third, launching 13 shots. "Dom had a fabulous third period," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "He steadied the ship."
Goalie Byron Dafoe made 18 saves for Boston, which lost three straight after winning the first game at home. The Bruins have never come back to win a series after being down 3-1. The Sabres have won their last two playoff series against Boston, including a sweep in 1993.
"It's nice to win two rounds, but our goal is to win the next round," said Hasek, whose team got off to a fast start and gained a territorial advantage for two periods with physical play and speed. "There's a long way to go."
Buffalo reached the Eastern Conference final for the second straight year. The Sabres lost to the Washington Capitals in six games last season. Toronto advanced to the conference final for the first time since 1994 by wrapping up the series against Pittsburgh in six games with a 4-3 overtime victory on Monday night.
"We're happy with the win but disappointed about what we did on defense in the last two minutes," Hasek said.
The Buffalo victory ended one of the more contentious series, characterized by heavy hits and verbal jabs. Bruins coach Pat Burns and Ruff complained about hits on their players and traded barbs through the media.
"It was probably their best game of the series," Burns said Tuesday. "They didn't make too many mistakes. We made a couple, and that made the difference."
Buffalo emphasized defense in Game 6. The Sabres muscled the Bruins forwards off the puck and allowed few good scoring chances. When the Bruins did get the occasional hot shot, Hasek was there.
Hasek complained about the groin injury a day after allowing four goals in two periods in Boston's 5-3 win in Game 5. Ruff, concerned as much about Hasek's poor play as his lack of mobility in that game, pulled the NHL's two-time defending MVP.
"We have no concerns about Dominik," said Sabres forward Dixon Ward. "He told us he was ready, and he looked like he was dancing around out there tonight."
Buffalo scored the first goal in five of the series' six games. Peca's goal, his fourth of the playoffs, came on Buffalo's fifth shot 4:49 into the game with Bruins center Shawn Bates in the penalty box for holding the stick.
Joe Juneau backhanded a pass from the corner to Peca at the top of the circle to Dafoe's right. Peca held the puck and fired it past Ray Bourque and through Dafoe's legs for a 1-0 lead.
The Sabres have scored at least one power-play goal in all 10 of their playoff games. Their longest streak of power-play goals in the regular season was five games.
Boston answered with a power-play goal at 12:49 with Dean Sylvester out for interference. Heinze scored his fourth playoff goal with a shot that deflected in off Hasek's skate.
Primeau regained the lead for the Sabres, scoring with 2{ minutes left in the first period. Dafoe turned aside Geoff Sanderson's shot and Primeau fired in the rebound over a sprawling Sanderson from a nearly impossible angle near the goal line.
Brown slipped in behind the Boston defense and popped in Erik Ramsussen's pass from the corner for a 3-1 lead two minutes into the second period.
The crowd booed Ray Bourque every time the Bruins defenseman touched the puck. Bourque, the all-time scoring leader against the Sabres in the playoffs, finished the series with four assists, including one Tuesday.
"We took a step and won a series," said 20-year veteran Bourque, whose team hadn't won a playoff series since 1994. "Hopefully next year we can keep growing and do better."
Peca leads Buffalo in points with four goals and seven assists, and has at least one point in eight of the 10 playoff games. Second-year coach Ruff is 18-7 in the playoffs, including last season's trip to the conference final.