EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) _ Don't count out the New Jersey Devils just yet, not when Martin Brodeur starts setting up goals.
Brodeur had 22 saves and set up a short-handed, first-period goal that got New Jersey going as the Devils stayed alive in the NHL playoffs by beating the Ottawa Senators 3-1 on Thursday night.
The Senators, looking to become the third No. 8 seed to knock off a top seed, still lead the best-of-7, first-round series 3-2. Game 6 will be played in Ottawa on Saturday night with a seventh game, if necessary, here on Monday night.
Brian Rolston, defenseman Lyle Odelein and Doug Gilmour scored as the Devils, playing a very physical game, prevented Ottawa from winning a third straight game to end the series.
Defenseman Igor Kravchuk got the Senators' goal early in the third period to cut the New Jersey lead to 2-1, but Gilmour scored 74 seconds later.
Brodeur was the difference with the Devils' season on the line. He stood tall in the first period when Ottawa outshot New Jersey 9-3 and he made the biggest play of the game with the Senators on their first of four fruitless power plays.
The Senators dumped the puck into the Devils' zone and Brodeur, who might be the best stick-handling goaltender in hockey history, got possession of the puck in front of his net. He bounced a pass off the side boards past Kravchuk that reached Rolston behind the defense.
Rolston collected the puck at center ice, broke in on Damian Rhodes and beat the goaltender with a backhander between the legs while skating across the crease.
Brodeur kept the lead at 1-0 early in the second period, stopping a breakaway by Magnus Arvedson. He also poke-checked a puck off Bruce Gardiner's stick later in the period to foil another break-in.
In between, Odelein put New Jersey ahead 2-0 on a power play on which Rhodes was unlucky. The defenseman's shot from the side of the left circle deflected off the knee of Senators defenseman Chris Phillips past the goaltender at 8:33 of the second period.
Kravchuk got Ottawa within a goal with a slap shot at 10:38 of the third period, only to have Gilmour add an insurance goal from in close, his fifth goal of the series.
Devils forward Jason Arnott was forced to leave the game in the second period with a lacerated wrist. Senators defenseman Wade Redden did not return for the third period after a minor groin strain.
Thirteen teams have rallied from 3-1 deficits in the playoffs, the last Pittsburgh against Washington in 1995.
#2 PITTSBURGH PEGUNIS vs #7 MONTREAL CANADIENS
PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Mark Recchi scored twice in the third period and the Montreal Canadiens and goaltender Andy Moog held off a Pittsburgh rally to win 5-2 Friday night and put the Penguins on the brink of playoff elimination.
Patrice Brisebois and Shayne Corson scored 1:29 apart midway through the second period as Montreal, the NHL's most storied franchise but one that hasn't won a playoff series in five years, took a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Game 6 will be Sunday night at the Molson Centre.
The Penguins can only hope that history is on their side again. The last time they lost a Game 5 at home to fall behind 3-2 _ against New Jersey in 1991 _ they rallied to win not only the series but the Stanley Cup.
Moog put on a Cup-worthy performance despite being bothered by persistent back pain, shaking off third-period goals by Martin Straka and Jaromir Jagr to stop 32 of 34 shots.
Moog, pulled from Pittsburgh's 6-3 victory in Game 4 after turning aside only four of nine shots, might not have started if backup Jocelyn Thibault hadn't stayed behind in Montreal with a groin pull.
Moog himself almost had to leave after apparently injuring his left leg as he sprawled to stop Jagr's fourth goal of the series at 13:30 of the third. Jose Theodore, Montreal's No. 3 goaltender, was readying himself in an arena runway until Moog decided he could stay in, and Pittsburgh didn't score again.
Vincent Damphousse then secured Montreal's second victory in the three games in Pittsburgh, taking Igor Ulanov's lead pass to beat Tom Barrasso 1-on-1 at 18:53 _ his second of the series. Recchi added an empty-net goal at 19:19.
The teams traded missed shots and opportunities until the Canadiens unexpectedly struck for two goals in a span of 1:29 midway through the second period.
The two quick goals not only swung the momentum, but clearly blunted the enthusiasm of the standing room-only crowd of 17,144 at the Civic Arena _ the Penguins' first sellout in three home playoff games.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Montreal's brief flurry of scoring came fewer than five minutes after the Canadiens became more physical, apparently in response to minor injuries to Turner Stevenson and Benoit Brunet.
Brisebois ended the shutout at 10:33 of the second, snapping a 20-foot shot by Tom Barrasso from the edge of the left circle. Damphousse carried the puck in deep before threading it through traffic onto Brisbois's stick.
The Canadiens then caught three Penguins in deep to score off a 3-on-2 break at 12:02 as Corson took Recchi's drop pass and wristed the puck by Barrasso from high in the slot. It was Corson's third goal of the series.
Montreal then made sure Pittsburgh didn't use the between-periods break to regain its momentum, building the lead to 3-0 just 1:01 into the third period. Saku Koivu, playing for the first time in the series, steered a puck through a crowd to an open Recchi at the left of the net.
Pittsburgh finally scored at 5:45 of the third as Martin Straka grabbed a loose puck in the slot and lifted it over Moog.
The Canadiens are one victory away from winning their first playoff series since they won their NHL-record 24th Stanley Cup championship in 1993.
#3 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #6 BUFFALO SABERS
PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ Michal Grosek's power-play goal 5:40 into overtime gave Buffalo a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night as the Sabres advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
With Chris Gratton off for high-sticking Matthew Barnaby, Grosek rang a shot off the post, then picked up his own rebound and put it over fallen Flyers goaltender Sean Burke.
Buffalo, which had won only two of its previous 14 playoff series, eliminated the Flyers, a Stanley Cup finalist last year, in five games. It was the same number Philadelphia needed to beat Buffalo in last year's playoffs.
All three Sabres goals came on the power play, which produced nine goals in 32 chances during the series. Eight of the Sabres' last 13 goals in the series came on the power play.
Dominik Hasek made 35 saves for the Sabres, while Burke had 26 stops.
Donald Audette's goal on a 4-on-3 power play put the Sabres up 2-1 at 8:26 of the third period, but Dave Babych's power-play goal at 13:08 of the period sent the game into overtime.
With the Flyers' Chris Therien and Dan McGillis, and the Sabres' Jason Woooley, in the penalty box, Audette backhanded his own rebound past Burke to snap a 1-1 tie.
Babych tied it while Brian Holzinger was in the penalty box for slashing. Babych's slap shot from the point banked in off the crossbar.
The Sabres, who entered the game having scored on five of their previous 10 power-play opportunities, got the man advantage early and capitalized by scoring on their first shot.
Eric Lindros was called for elbowing Barnaby 1:11 into the game and Buffalo made it 1-0 at 2:29. Barnaby passed to Jason Woolley and Woolley's wrist shot from the point dribbled through Burke's legs.
Philadelphia tied it at 1:49 of the second period. Alexandre Daigle passed across the crease from the left circle to Mike Sillinger, unchecked to the left of Hasek. As the Sabres goalie went down to cover the bottom half of the net, Sillinger lifted a short wrist shot under his right arm.
It was the beginning of the best period the Flyers played in the series, as Philadelphia outshot Buffalo 12-2 in the period's first eight minutes and 16-9 overall.
The Flyers had several good scoring chances in the second period, but also got caught defensively several times and relied on Burke to keep the game tied.
Grosek had Buffalo's best scoring chances in the second period, including a partial breakaway where Burke blocked the shot with his glove arm while lying on the ice. Burke stopped Grosek on another breakaway in the second period, and also made a breakaway save on Barnaby with 1:29 left in the third.
#4 WASHINGTON CAPITALS vs #5 BOSTON BRUINS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- This time, the Boston Bruins scored first and scored often, leaving the Washington Capitals to wrestle with their history of first-round collapses for at least another game.
Seeking to overcome a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in franchise history, the Bruins got three goals in the second period and forced a Game 6 in Boston on Sunday with Friday's 4-0 victory.
Jason Allison and Sergei Samsonov fed each other with similar passes for the goals that gave Boston a 2-0 lead, reversing the 2-0 advantage that Washington had enjoyed in each of the four previous games. Rob DiMaio and Ray Bourque also scored, and Byron Dafoe stopped 26 shots for his first career playoff shutout.
The Capitals have blown two-game series leads four times in the first round since 1987, and it seemed the curse of the past set in fast as they blew several chances to take an early lead, then rocked back on their heels once Boston found the net the first time.
The Capitals still lead the series 3-2, with each team trying to win a playoff series for the first time since 1984. Boston is 0-17 in series in which they've trailed 3-1.
The Capitals played their third straight game without 52-goal scorer Peter Bondra, who has a sprained ankle. Richard Zednik, the top rookie goal-scorer in the league this season, played for the first time since straining an abdominal muscle April 2, but he couldn't prevent Boston's first playoff shutout since 1992.
The Bruins had held a lead for only 2:20 of the entire series before Allison, getting defender Phil Housley to commit on a 2-on-1 break, slid the puck left to possible rookie of the year Samsonov for his first playoff goal at 2:20 of the second period.
The score ended Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig's shutout streak at 117:52, a franchise playoff record.
Allison and Samsonov teamed up again a few minutes later on a power play. Taking a long rebound off Bourque's shot, Samsonov charged in and fed Allison _ again to the left _ at the 8:54 mark.
DiMaio made it 3-0 with a great individual effort. Coming around the net and falling to the ice, DiMaio stretched out his stick and propelled the puck off the left post and into the net.
Allison got his second assist on Bourque's power-play slap shot from the blue line with 4:50 remaining in the game, the only goal that Kolzig had even a remote chance of stopping.
In the first period, the Capitals appeared as jinxed as a team could be. Adam Oates found himself perched on the goal's doorstep with an open net in front of him, but he couldn't handle the puck as it skipped past. The same thing happened to Brian Bellows, who also had a shot hit the left post. Another shot hit the top of goalie Byron Dafoe's helmet, leading to a mad scramble but no goal.
