Monday May 11 7pm
KANATA, Ontario -- Coming off their most impressive win of the postseason, the
Washington Capitals can take a huge step towards the Eastern Conference finals
tonight with a win over the sputtering Ottawa Senators. Washington solved Ottawa goaltender
Ron Tugnutt on Saturday, scoring on
five consecutive shots in the second
and third periods to rout the Senators
6-1 and take a 2-0 lead in their
semifinal series.
"We still have to win two more games,
but everyone believes we can win the
Stanley Cup," Washington's Esa
Tikkanen said. "This team has never
advanced past the second round. That's
keying everybody. It's only two games. They're going back home and things will be
much harder there."
Ten different players have scored for Washington in the first two games of the
series. Adam Oates, who has three goals and an assist in his last three games,
leads the Caps with five goals and five assists in the postseason. The Capitals have been outshot in this
series 69-41 and in the playoffs,
308-201.
For the Senators to avoid falling further,
their goaltending needs to improve
quickly. Tugnutt, who was 3-1 with two
shutouts against the Capitals this
season, will probably be replaced by
Damian Rhodes, who helped Ottawa upset top seed New Jersey in the opening
round of the playoffs.
Alexei Yashin has two goals and two assists during a four-game points streak.
Ottawa, unbeaten at home during the postseason, won both regular-season
meetings at home against Washington this season.
Game 4 will be played Wednesday night in Ottawa.
#6 BUFFALO SABERS vs #7 MONTREAL CANADIENS
Tuesday May 12 7:30pm
The Montreal Canadiens face what amounts to a must-win situation tonight when they host the Buffalo Sabres in Game Three of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Buffalo took the series opener, 3-2, in overtime Friday and Matthew Barnaby recorded his first career playoff hat trick to lead the Sabres to a 6-3 victory in Sunday's Game Two.
Since a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia in Game Two of the quarterfinals, Buffalo has won five straight playoff games, tying a club record. In those five games, the Sabres have outscored the opposition, 22-9.
To no one's surprise, Dominik Hasek has been a key component for the Sabres as Buffalo has been outshot, 74-50, in the first two games. Though Hasek is 6-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average in this postseason, the Buffalo offense has carried the load and let the all-world netminder play without making his usual array of inhuman saves.
Barnaby leads the Sabres with nine points while Michal Grosek is the leading goal-scorer with five. Donald Audette and defenseman Jason Woolley bring five-game point streaks into Game Three.
After allowing five goals in his previous three playoff games, veteran Andy Moog was burned for five on 21 shots on Sunday. Jocelyn Thibault stopped all three shots he faced in a relief role.
Mark Recchi leads the Canadiens with four goals and 10 points, while captain Vincent Damphousse is second with nine points.
Montreal won two of three home games during its quarterfinal series with Pittsburgh.
Game Four is Thursday in Montreal.
