GAME SUMMARIESPLAYOFFS ROUND 2: EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMI FINALS
Updated: Tuesday May 18, 1999 1:40AM EST
Monday May 17, 1999 Toronto at Pittsburgh
Toronto wins 4-2
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."
Saturday May 15, 1999 Pittsburgh at Toronto
Toronto leads 3-2
Twice in the third period, Jaromir Jagr raced into Toronto's zone with the puck on his stick, and both times
defenseman Dimitri Yushkevich caught the Pittsburgh star and muscled him out of the play. Nullifying Jagr was a key
to a 4-1 victory Saturday night that put the Maple Leafs up 3-2 in the NHL Eastern Conference semifinals.
Yushkevich played a tremendous game. "My teammates helped cover for me, so it wasn't that hard," Yushkevich
said. "I just tried to play against him like I play against anybody in the league, but always keeping in mind he's the
best player in the world. "He's a very strong guy and I try not to get involved with him physically in the neutral zone
because if I lose my body position on him I lose everything. So I try to contain him in our end and try to take away his
move to the middle." Fanatical checking and goals by Sylvain Cote, Mike Johnson, Steve Thomas and Sergei
Berezin won it for the Maple Leafs. The only puck to get behind Curtis Joseph was deflected in by teammate Kevyn
Adams and was credited to Jan Hrdina. Game 6 is Monday night in Pittsburgh, and unless Jagr can find a way to
elude Yushkevich it might be all over in six games. "Dimitri is doing a number on (Jagr)," said Joseph. "He's right
there in his face every time." Toronto jumped to a 2-0 lead on its first three shots on Tom Barrasso, who could not
be blamed. Cote's slap shot from the blue line changed direction off Robert Lang and whizzed past Barrasso at 7:04,
and Yushkevich's wrist shot from the blue line was deflected in by Johnson at 10:48. Both goals came shortly after
Pittsburgh killed a penalty. "We've been trying to get some traffic to the net and the first two goals were a direct
result of that," said Johnson. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, checked the Penguins to a standstill. Frustration began
to eat at Jagr. After being knocked to the ice cleanly by Yushkevich, Jagr swung his stick at him and was sent off for
slashing at 19:34. Jagr threw his stick into the penalty box in anger. Thomas made it 3-0 at 13:44 of the second
period on a long cross-ice pass from Lonny Bohonos. Barrasso dropped to his knees and Thomas flipped the puck
under the goalie's left arm as he skated beyond the goal line. Hrdina got one back by accident when he passed from
the side boards in Toronto's zone and Adams, reaching for the puck in front of the crease, poked it past an
unsuspecting Joseph at 14:13. Said Adams: "It's never happened before and let's hope it never happens again." A
capacity crowd of 18,800 roared its approval when Berezin burst into the clear and fired a low wrist shot past
Barrasso with five minutes remaining in the game. Yanic Perreault had dug the puck loose along the boards. "We
have a lot of positives to carry over to Pittsburgh," said Maple Leafs forward Garry Valk. Pittsburgh coach Kevin
Constantine conceded that Yushkevich did "a pretty good job" on Jagr, but added that a groin injury that Jagr has
played with throughout the playoffs once again hampered his skating. "I don't think Jaromir is 100 per cent healthy,"
Constantine said. "I'm sure part of his frustration is that he's such a proud guy and he's so competitive and he wants
to do so well that when he can't physically get done what he can do because of the injury, it's frustrating." Jagr
pointed to the absence of Alexei Kovalev, who missed his second straight game with a foot injury, and the
subsequent shuffling of Pittsburgh's line combinations as one reason for the loss. "It's frustrating when we don't play
with the same lines," Jagr said. "Hopefully he's going to be back next game and we're going to play a lot better than
we did tonight. "They were the better team from the first minute. They have a great goalie and when you get down
two goals to a team like that it's tough to come back. They deserved to win. We didn't want to be down 3-2 in this
series. We were up 2-1. It's tough."
Thursday May 13, 1999 Toronto at Pittsburgh
Series tied 2-2
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.
Tuesday May 11, 1999 Toronto at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh leads 2-1
The Pittsburgh Penguins apparently are at their best in the most precarious of situations. Jaromir Jagr scored the
tying goal in the third period and Jiri Slegr got the game winner 1:40 later as the Penguins took the series lead by
rallying to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 Tuesday night. The Penguins trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before Jagr, no
longer visibly bothered by his lingering groin injury, scored his first goal in three games at 9:03 of the third and
Slegr got his first playoff goal ever at 10:43. Jagr also had two assists. With their future in Pittsburgh in doubt
beyond this series or this season, the Penguins take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 Thursday at the Civic Arena. "This is a
team capable of coming back," coach Kevin Constantine said, pointing to the Penguins' 6-23-7 regular-season
record when trailing after two periods. "We have the will to work hard and the skill to create." The victory came
only hours after NHL lawyers told a federal judge that an out-of-town buyer has stepped forward to move the
bankrupt Penguins if former star Mario Lemieux isn't successful in his takeover bid. With the Maple Leafs
frantically trying to preserve their 3-2 lead, Jagr directed Rob Brown's pass from the left circle past goaltender
Curtis Joseph with 12 seconds left in Toronto captain Mats Sundin's tripping penalty. Slegr then gave the Penguins
their first lead since their 2-0 victory in Game 1, faking a shot to draw Joseph out of the net before slamming the
puck into a narrow opening beside the near post. "I'm happy my first goal in the playoffs was such a big one," Slegr
said. "It's just pure excitement." The Penguins got only three shots in the third period, but scored on two in a game
decided by a pair of frantic flurries. Asked if it was unusual Pittsburgh won with so few shots in the pivotal period,
Joseph said, " You'd think so, but this is a funny game." After going nearly 1� periods without scoring, the two
teams erupted for five goals -- and, several times, erupted at referee Kerry Fraser -- in a span of 4:37 of the
second period. Mike Johnson started the flurry at 8:21, directing Derek King's pass from behind the net by Tom
Barrasso after King grabbed his own rebound -- the second game in a row Toronto has scored the first goal. Kevin
Hatcher tied it with a power-play goal at 10:42, but only after Fraser consulted with video replay judge Dale Ruth
for nearly five minutes. Hatcher, stationed at the right of the net, slapped at the puck, deflecting it off Toronto
defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev's skate and toward Joseph as Brown also punched at it. Joseph made a
backward swipe as a portion of the puck appeared to trickle across the goal line near the left post, but several TV
replays were inconclusive. None of the replays showed the puck clearly crossing the line. "I had as good a look at
it as anybody, but it happened so quick I don't know," Hatcher said. "There was a ton of spin on it. I thought I
jammed my blocker against the post, but it squirted out," said Joseph., who shouted "Good game" derisively at
Fraser at the end of the game. NHL supervisor of officials Charlie Banfield said that because the replays were
inconclusive, the on-ice call was upheld. Fraser signaled a goal after goal judge Gary Steffenhagen flashed the goal
light. "He (the goal judge) was adamant," Banfield said. "If the replays are inconclusive, we go with the call on the
ice." Maple Leafs general manager Ken Dryden wasn't convinced, hanging around the press box for 40 minutes
after the game to review the replays and argue with Banfield. At one point, Dryden yelled at Banfield, "You bailed
out on the call." Still, the Maple Leafs didn't take long to regain the lead, as Derek King scored his first goal in 19
games at 12:19 _ just 26 seconds before Bobby Dollas answered with his first playoff goal for Pittsburgh. Toronto
regained the lead once more only 13 seconds later with a disputed goal of its own and the third goal in only 39
seconds. With the Dollas line still on the ice, the Maple Leafs' Tie Domi jumped on the puck following a Penguins'
giveaway in their own zone and steered it to rookie Adam Mair as he skated in on goaltender Tom Barrasso. Mair
ran over Barrasso, knocking him off his skates, as he steered the puck one-handed into what now was an open net.
The Penguins bench argued the goal should be waved off for obstruction and Mair should be penalized, but the goal
was upheld. Mair is the only the 12th rookie in Maple Leafs history to debut in a playoff game. With three goals in
less than five minutes, the Maple Leafs topped their output in each of their first seven playoff games. They didn't
score more than two goals in any game until beating Pittsburgh 4-2 Sunday. Sundin was held scoreless after
breaking out of a slump with two goals and two assists Sunday. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended the
game and, during a brief news conference, emphasized the league stands behind Lemieux's bid, but must explore all
options the longer the situation goes unresolved.
Sunday May 9, 1999 Pittsburgh at Toronto
Series tied 1-1
Mats Sundin made up for a lack of playoff scoring with one great night's work.
Sundin scored two goals and assisted two others as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 Sunday night to tie their Eastern Conference semifinal series at a game apiece.
"As a whole team, we played a lot better," Sundin said. "We got our transition game going."
Sundin, who had not scored since Game 2 of the first round against Philadelphia, scored a goal in each of the first and second periods and assisted on goals by linemates Steve Thomas and Lonny Bohonos, whose unexpected appearance invigorated the Maple Leafs' first line.
"Our line was able to produce and it was about time," said Sundin. "This is the best I've felt so far in the playoffs."
Kip Miller and German Titov beat Curtis Joseph, who was otherwise at his acrobatic best. Pittsburgh outshot Toronto 27-25.
Game 3 in the Eastern Conference semifinal is Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
Titov's goal off a cross-crease pass from Jaromir Jagr 12:42 into the third period set up a tense finish. But Thomas's slap shot from the circle to the left of goalie Tom Barrasso high into the Pittsburgh net at 16:50 ended the suspense.
Penguins coach Kevin Constantine yelled at referees Don Koharski and Paul Stewart, and offered mock applause, after a non-call on the play that led to Toronto's fourth goal. Bohonos had knocked Jiri Slegrdown in stripping him of the puck near the Pittsburgh lue line. Bohonos passed to Sundin, who set up Thomas.
"I felt I played him strong and took the body," Bohonos said. "I guess it could have gone either way, but it's playoff hockey."
Bohonos, who has bounced between the NHL and the AHL for five years, was brought up after the elimination last week of the St. John's farm team. He hadn't expected to play, but was given the left-wing spot of Freddie Modin, who was dropped from the lineup because of his lack of productivity.
"I've played with Mats and Steve before when I've been called up, and they're two great players," said Bohonos, who was told five minutes before the opening faceoff he'd be starting. "I just tried to create some speed for them and get them the puck and go to the net."
The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead in the first period, outshooting the Penguins 12-7. Bohonos backhanded in a rebound at 6:06, and got an assist when Sundin did the same at 14:41 on a power play.
"We looked around on the bench and it was like, 'Hey, where has this guy been all year?"' Sundin said. "He played a great game.
"The way he started the first period, he was unbelievable."
It was the first time this postseason that Toronto scored first.
"Getting the first two goals was great for our psyche," said Thomas. "It gave us the confidence that we could beat them."
The Maple Leafs were skating faster than in Game 1 to avoid Pittsburgh's neutral-zone defensive trap, and they were playing with a lot more intensity than they had during that 2-0 loss Friday.
Sundin flattened Jagr at center with a shoulder check in the fifth minute of the second period. The NHL scoring champion's stick flew into the air, and Jagr was slow getting up. Jagr, playing at half speed with a strained groin, did not miss a shift.
"He played a lot better and dominated the game," Jagr said of Sundin. "That's what I didn't want to happen -- to see him get back on track."
Said Thomas: "Mats stood up and led like a true captain. He played a tremendous game, showed tremendous leadership."
"(Toronto) obviously played well and we weren't good enough," said Constantine. "Their guys worked hard. We had our chances, but Curtis was good."
Friday May 7, 1999 Pittsburgh at Toronto
Pittsburgh leads 1-0
Dan Kesa was a surprise playoff hero for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kesa, who scored only two goals during the
regular season and hadn't even managed a shot during the playoffs, scored the winning goal as the Penguins beat the
Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 Friday night. Jaromir Jagr played at only half speed because of a strained groin and
Pittsburgh's offense managed only 19 shots. Yet, the Penguins emerged with a victory in their second-round playoff
opener over the favored Maple Leafs. Credit Pittsburgh's defense and a superior power play with the win.
Goaltender Tom Barrasso got the shutout by making 20 saves -- few of them difficult ones. "We know they're a great
team offensively, so we have to stop them through the neutral zone and not let them get any speed up," Kesa said.
"We did that pretty well." Pittsburgh was 1-for-3 on the power play, with Kesa scoring in the first period, and
Toronto was 0-for-4. "The puck came to me in the slot and I saw (Curtis) Joseph was down, so I just teed it up and
went high," said Kesa, a 27-year-old forward from Vancouver. "I got two goals all year and to get one on the power
play on Hockey Night in Canada is a pretty good feeling." Joseph had been bumped by teammate Mats Sundin and
was falling when Kesa's slap shot went through his legs. "If I had a hockey pool, I probably wouldn't have picked
him," teammate Bobby Dollas said of Kesa. German Titov added an empty-net goal with 37 seconds left. "We really
put our noses to the grindstone and we came out with the victory," Dollas said. Game 2 in the best-of-7 Eastern
Conference semifinal is Sunday night. "We played very good defense and Tommy played an excellent game," said
Jagr. "I thought there would be more offense, especially the first game, but I'm glad we won. "That's the way we
played against New Jersey (in the first round) and it worked for us, so we didn't want to change anything." The
Penguins would have been up by two or three goals at the end of the first period except for some superb saves by
Joseph. Barrasso's shutout was his first in the playoffs in three years and his sixth in 108 career playoff games. "We
both came out a little tentative," said Barrasso. "Besides the specialty team play, I don't think there was a whole lot
of activity in most of the game quite frankly, but I'm sure that will change as the series goes on. "Both teams are in
positions they haven't been in a lot lately. I know most of our guys have little playoff experience. We played a
close-checking game and that was mostly the story of the night." The Penguins bottled up the neutral zone. "We
couldn't get anything going in the neutral zone," said Maple Leafs forward Steve Thomas. "We didn't play well, we
didn't execute, we didn't create any scoring chances." Sergei Berezin, who had three shots on Barrasso in the game,
was the only consistently dangerous Maple Leaf. "We looked like the slowest club in the league because we were
standing out there," said Toronto coach Pat Quinn. "Good checking does that -- it gets you standing. "We looked
like an ad-lib team. We had no sense of team play as far as moving the puck. I'm not sure anybody but Berezin had a
scoring opportunity on our team. That really says a lot about how we played ... or how they played. I expected good
defense out of them. I expected us to handle it a bit better."