Ottawa vs. NY Islanders 2:1

Game 3: Ottawa @ New York 3:2

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- To regain home-ice advantage from the New York Islanders, the Ottawa Senators continued their dominance on the road.
Todd White scored his second goal of the night on a deflection 2:25 into double overtime to give the Senators a 3-2 triumph over the Islanders and a two games to one lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Off a turnover by Oleg Kvasha in the neutral zone, Ottawa's Magnus Arvedson carried into the Islanders' zone and wristed a shot from the top of the right circle. Stationed in front of Garth Snow, White tipped the puck between the goaltender's pads for his fourth career playoff goal and first game-winner.
"I was a little surprised that I was kind of open," White said.
"Arvedson just did a criss-cross and I was in the right place.
... To be able to play in overtime is a thrill that every hockey player looks forward to. That was the biggest goal of my life.
I don't remember anything even coming close."
Defenseman Chris Phillips also scored for the Senators, who rallied from a pair of deficits and killed nine of 10 power plays. They improved to 12-0-4 at the Nassau Coliseum since January 6, 1996.
"They're tough to beat in this place," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "It's tough to win here and we picked it up when we had to."
Alexei Yashin scored one goal and set up the other for New York, which is just 2-for-21 on the power play in the series.
"We had so many chances and couldn't put it away," said Yashin, a former Senator who has two goals and an assist in the series.
"We just have to correct some mistakes. It's a hard loss to take, but things happen like that. We just have to be ready for the next game."
Coming off a 3-0 loss in Game Two, the Islanders appeared set to take a 2-1 lead into the third period. But Phillips scored with 44 seconds to go in the second to shift the momentum.
Off a 2-on-1, Phillips burst down the slot and tipped a pass from former Islander Bryan Smolinski over Snow's right arm.
"I got lucky," Smolinski said. "The puck hit the linesman.
Phillips went hard to the net, just like he should, and he was there to get it."
"That goal in the second period stopped their momentum, and we picked it up in the third period," Alfredsson said. "It lifted our spirits and we looked refreshed in OT."
New York wasted a power play early in the first overtime after defenseman Anton Volchenkov was penalized for a retaliatory hit on Steve Webb.
"We had quite a few chances and didn't put the puck in the net," Islanders left wing Jason Blake said. "In playoff hockey, special teams have to come up big."
Both teams struck on the power play in the opening period.
Ottawa had a 4-on-3 advantage when White snapped a wrist shot from the top of the slot by Snow's stick side and inside the left goalpost to forge a 1-1 tie with 78 seconds to go.
Just 24 seconds later, a pass from Yashin enabled Randy Robitaille to split the Senators' defense. Robitaille reached the bottom of the left circle and sneaked a wrister between Lalime and the near post.
Yashin opened the scoring with a controversial goal at 8:14.
Off a goalmouth scramble, the puck squirted to Yashin at the right of the net, where he flipped it into a half-empty net.
Referee Kerry Fraser lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle just as Yashin shot, and the goal had to be reviewed by the video replay official.

Detroit vs. Anaheim 0:3

Game 3: Detroit @ Anaheim 1:2

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are one win away from completing a mighty big upset.
Rookie Stanislav Chistov had a goal and an assist and Jean-Sebastien Giguere came within 6:16 of a shutout as the Ducks edged the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, to take a commanding three games to none lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
After finishing 15 points behind Detroit during the regular season, Anaheim has registered three straight one-goal wins to put the defending Stanley Cup champions on the brink of a stunning sweep.
"Four is the measure, not three," Ducks first-year coach Mike Babcock said. "It's always the toughest one to put someone away. They're proud, they're talented, they're veterans and they're not going to go away. We have to put them away."
"We lose, that's it," Red Wings left wing Brendan Shanahan said.
"We're going to see what this team is made of. We're not going to quit. The next game will show a lot - what we're made of, individually and collectively."
Chistov set up Samuel Pahlsson's first career playoff goal 2:31 into the second period and banked in a shot early in the third to make it 2-0.
That was more than a big enough lead for Giguere, who made 36 saves and has stopped 133 of 137 shots in the series. He lost a bid for his first postseason shutout when Tomas Holmstrom scored on his own rebound during a power play.
But Giguere preserved the lead with 2:50 remaining when he stopped a point-blank shot by rookie Henrik Zetterberg, who sidestepped Paul Kariya and defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh on his way into the Ducks' zone.
"There was pressure in the third period," Giguere said. "That's when you learn the most and have some fun. ... I was able to see every puck out there and the defense kept the rebounds away.
We've been very well-prepared, we've played as a team for 60 minutes."
Anaheim hosts Game Four on Wednesday, when it has a chance to advance to the second round of the playoffs for just the second time in its 10-year history.
"I'd be lying if I said I expected us to be in this position," admitted center Steve Rucchin, who has spent his entire nine-year career with the Ducks. "But I'm confident in our ability to play against them."
Detroit had an 11-10 edge in shots in a scoreless first period, but Pahlsson gave Anaheim the lead 2:31 into the second.
Off a turnover by rookie defenseman Dmitri Bykov, Pahlsson moved down the left side with defenseman Jason Woolley draped on his back. But the 25-year-old Swede snapped a wrist shot from the faceoff circle past the glove of goaltender Curtis Joseph and into the top right corner of the net.
"Chisty picked up the puck in center," Pahlsson said. "I tried to get it up high. It went up there."
Detroit appeared to tie it a minute later when defenseman Mathieu Dandenault beat Giguere with a blast from the top of the left circle. But the whistle blew a moment earlier as the Red Wings were penalized for having too many men on the ice.
Detroit was killing that penalty when Giguere used his glove to snag Shanahan's wrist shot from the left circle. He also squeezed his pads to stop Brett Hull's one-timer from the slot during a power play with 5:26 to go in the period.
"To know that you have a guy who has scored over 700 goals out there, you've just got to be mindful of him all the time," Ducks left wing Steve Thomas said. "Jiggy was just standing on his head for us."
Anaheim nearly doubled its lead in the final minute of the period when Kariya's wrister from the top of the slot deflected off two players in front of the net and hit the right goalpost.
The Ducks finally got the insurance goal 1:44 into the third when Joseph was caught out of his net and Chistov banked a shot off Zetterberg's skate and the inside of the goalie's pads.
"It was a miscommunication between myself and (Chris) Chelios," said Joseph, who made 24 saves. "I thought he was going to get it, he thought I was going to get it. At the last second, I had to try to go out and knock it by the guy, and he threw it outside. It went off something and it went in the net."
"Goaltending isn't a problem," Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman said. "Cujo is an easy target, he's not the issue. There are other areas we need to focus on."
Detroit finally broke through when Holmstrom deflected a shot by defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, then backhanded the rebound by Giguere's glove.
"It was unfortunate," Babcock said. "The one goal they got, they deflected it going to the net. Giguere didn't get the rebound and we didn't get our stick there quick enough."

Colorado vs. Minnesota 2:1

Game 3: Colorado @ Minnesota 3:0

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Fans in Minnesota waited 11 years for playoff hockey to return. Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche kept them waiting.
Roy recorded his 23rd career playoff shutout and Peter Forsberg had a power-play goal and an assist as the Colorado Avalanche reclaimed home-ice advantage in their Western Conference quarterfinal series with a 3-0 blanking of the Minnesota Wild.
The crowd of 19,354 at the Xcel Energy Center was the largest to see a game in what the Wild have dubbed the "State of Hockey."
But the Avalanche gave it little to cheer about in grabbing a two games to one lead in the best-of seven series.
"This is a phenomenal hockey town. They've been waiting for this moment for a long time, so we knew they would come out extremely enthused and play like that," Colorado coach Tony Granato said. "We didn't do anything fancy. We worked hard and we played pretty simple."
Roy stopped seven shots in the first period, eight in the second and just three in the third in extending his postseason records for wins (150) and shutouts.
"I think our decisions were better than we (made) last game," he said. "We didn't create turnovers at the blue line."
Roy made back-to-back spectacular saves midway through the second period to preserve a 1-0 lead. During a scramble, he lunged across the goalmouth and got the paddle of his stick on Wes Walz's shot from below the left faceoff circle. While Walz was raising his arms in celebration, Roy extended his paddle to the other side of the net to deny Cliff Ronning on the rebound.
"It was a 1-0 game. It came at the right moment and it was good to keep the game as it was," Roy said.
"It was one of those saves that you're going to watch on highlights for a long time," Walz said. "It was a huge momentum swing. If we could have snuck that one in, it would have been 1-1."
Held to one assist in the first two games of the series, Forsberg - the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season - set up Alex Tanguay's goal 3:33 into the opening period for the only support Roy needed.
After Joe Sakic netted an insurance goal in the second, Forsberg capped the scoring with 12:05 to play in the third.
"It was a great road game to win, 3-0. And we're happy with the four lines and the solid defensive play, so you've got to be happy with this win," Forsberg said. "On the other hand, it's one win and we need two more."
Game Four is Wednesday at Minnesota.
"This is a team that we know is stronger. They've been there, they have great players on that team and they should win," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "What we want to do is put up a good fight and make it as close as possible. And if we can get some breaks and steal another game, we'll take it and we'll go from there."
The Avalanche took advantage of sloppy play by goaltender Dwayne Roloson to grab the lead.
Roloson coughed up the puck behind the net and put it on the stick of Forsberg. He threw it in front to Tanguay, whose first shot was stopped by Walz. With Roloson scrambling back into position, Tanguay put in a backhander for his first playoff goal.
"It was a great play by (Forsberg)," Tanguay said. "He just pushed it in front. I took a couple whacks at it and fortunately, it went in."
Minnesota dominated the second period, but Sakic scored on one of Colorado's five shots. A check by Mike Keane along the boards in his own zone freed Sakic to move down the right side.
He crossed the Wild blue line, cut across to the top of the slot and put a wrister past a screened Roloson.
"I was tired, it was at the end of the shift," Sakic said. "I waited for a while. Milan (Hejduk) and everyone else was coming through, so I just tried to gain the middle, and Keaner went to the net hard."
Roloson said he never saw the shot, adding, "Their guy jumped right in front."
In the third period, Forsberg came out from the side of the net, deked Roloson and curled a shot around the goalie's left pad.
"They've done a good job on everybody," Sakic said. "They play so well defensively and there's not a lot of room. I think (Forsberg) got a little room on the power play and was able to put it in."
Roloson made just 15 saves for Minnesota, which has lost both games in the series when Colorado scored first.
"When we get the first goal, we seem to make simpler plays and have a lot of energy," Ronning said. "We try to do too many things when we don't get that first goal."

Vancouver vs. St. Louis 1:2

Game 3: Vancouver @ St. Louis 1:3

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- With Norris Trophy candidate Al MacInnis out of the lineup, the St. Louis Blues tightened their defense and rode the hot hand of Doug Weight.
Weight scored two goals and set up another as the Blues posted a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks to take a two games to one lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Rammed into the boards by Todd Bertuzzi early in the first period of Game Two, MacInnis suffered an apparent right shoulder injury. The Blues' captain was unavailable for this one, but the rest of the defense was able to pick up the slack.
St. Louis held Vancouver to 14 shots, including three in the third period, and grabbed the lead less than two minutes into the second on Pavol Demitra's second goal of the series.
"I just tried to make myself as big as I could and cover as much of the net as possible," Blues goaltender Chris Osgood said.
"They attempted a heck of a lot of shots. It's just we blocked probably half of them tonight."
Weight, who helped set up Demitra's tally, gave the Blues a two-goal cushion midway through the period on the power play before adding an empty-netter to seal the win.
Defenseman Marek Malik scored the lone goal for the Canucks, who gave the Blues nine power-play chances with untimely penalties, including Henrik Sedin's holding call with just over two minutes to play in the third period.
"I think the harder working team won tonight," Vancouver coach Marc Crawford said. "That has been the case in each game of the series. We recognize that we have to get our battle level higher. I believe that our guys are capable of going that much higher, and that's what's going to have to happen."
The series resumes Wednesday in St. Louis.
Having posted a shutout in Game One, Osgood made two of his six first-period saves with 11 minutes to go. After gloving defenseman Ed Jovanovski's shot from the right point through a screen, he denied Sedin from the doorstep off the ensuing faceoff.
"He's playing really great, moving the puck well when he has the chance to, making it easier on our defense as well," Blues rookie defenseman Barret Jackman said. "(Just) 14 shots, that's a credit to him as well. He's getting the puck in areas that we can control it. His all-around game is getting better every game."
"They played well, physical, did a good job limiting us, shot-wise," Canucks center Brendan Morrison said. "A lot of times, Osgood was stopping them and playing them, making the defensemen's job easier. ... We have to get more shots. One of the main rules on this team is to put out offense, and we haven't done that, it's no secret."
With MacInnis already sidelined, Tyson Nash became St. Louis' latest victim.
While standing along the right side waiting for the puck, the Blues' agitator was plowed from behind by Daniel Sedin, crashing head-first into the boards. Nash left and did not return, while Sedin was given a boarding penalty.
That penalty did not prove costly, but Sedin's next one did.
Just two seconds after his high-sticking infraction ended, Cory Stillman danced up and down the right side before moving across the faceoff circle to the slot. Spotting Demitra down low, Stillman made a pass that the Blues' regular-season scoring leader swept past Dan Cloutier at 1:44 of the second period.
The Blues cashed in on their next man advantage, thanks to Keith Tkachuk.
With Weight controlling the puck behind the net, Tkachuk battled Murray Baron in the crease. As the defenseman was pushed toward the right goalpost, Weight walked to the low slot and wristed a shot past Cloutier at 10:07 to make it 2-0.
"They scored a nice goal on the power play," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said. "Those guys freelance very well. Maybe it's a different look coming up the ice. But in the zone, I thought Dougie showed really good patience to control the puck on the goal, settled it down, made a couple nice plays to score the goal."
The goal was proof St. Louis' power-play unit could function without MacInnis.
"You know, Al is our biggest strength when he's out there," Weight said. "When he's not out there, we have to react, try different things. Anytime you get the puck in Pavol's hands and you get Walt (Tkachuk) and Mell (Scott Mellanby) ... at what they do, they're probably the best in the world. I just have to get the puck through."
"Obviously, he's a big part of our power play," Tkachuk added.
"He's one of the best in the league, best slap shot in the league, attracts a lot of attention. It's an adjustment. We have some pretty good players out there that have to take advantage of it. Fortunately, we found a way tonight."
Osgood kept the Canucks off the board 2 1/2 minutes later, smothering Morrison's shot off a rebound from low in the left circle. But Vancouver converted on the power play to halve the deficit.
From the left point, defenseman Marek Malik wristed a shot that made its way through a screen and past Osgood's glove side with 67 seconds left in the second.
Osgood made just three saves in the final 20 minutes, including one on Markus Naslund's only shot of the game, before Weight put a shot into an empty net while on the power play with 19 seconds remaining.
"They played harder than we did. That's why they beat us," Naslund said. "We were frustrated with not too many chances. We have to play solid, taking chances when they're there.
Obviously, our power play isn't clicking at all. We have to go back to basics."
"They battled a lot more," Cloutier added. "You can ask anyone and they'll tell you they wanted it more than we did. In the last three games, two of them they wanted it more than we did.
They're a defensive-minded team. It's hard to get chances and opportunities."

Philadelphia vs. Toronto 1:2

Game 3: Philadelphia @ Toronto 3:4 OT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- With their leading scorer knocked out of the game, the Toronto Maple Leafs needed someone to step up.
Defenseman Tomas Kaberle decided it would be him.
Kaberle scored his second goal of the game 7:20 into double overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers and a two games to one lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Just 4 1/2 minutes into the second overtime, Philadelphia's Jeremy Roenick fell backwards during an offsides call at the Toronto blue line. On his way down, his stick came up and caught Alexander Mogilny under the chin, leaving the Maple Leafs right wing lying flat on the ice.
"I was skating backwards and his foot came by and clipped the back of my feet," Roenick explained. "I went sprawling backwards. Totally, totally innocent play. When you get your feet taken out backwards, everything goes up and I happened to clip him. It was a very unfortunate situation, for sure."
After being attended to, Mogilny - who earlier scored his fifth goal of the series - was noticeably woozy as he was helped to the locker room.
Mogilny received stitches in and around his mouth but was walking under his own power after the game.
"I can justify that it's never fun to get a stick around your mouth," said linemate Mats Sundin, who took a puck to the face on April 3 and suffered extensive damage to his lip, teeth and gums. "It's better to hurt your leg or something. It's kind of where you live, so to say. You eat and everything there. I'm sure it's sore. Hopefully, it will be all right."
Less than three minutes later, Sundin carried down the left side and around the Flyers net before backhanding the puck into the crease. After it deflected in front of Roman Cechmanek's stick, Kaberle lifted the puck over the prone goaltender for the game-winner.
"Mats had the puck and went deep around the net and put it out front," Kaberle said. "One of their guys was changing, so I took a chance and was able to get a rebound. It feels great, but it doesn't matter who scored the goal."
"That's a play where you try to come around the net and put something in front," Sundin added. "Tomas, I think, has seen me go out and gun around the net like that but not for a few years."
Toronto coach Pat Quinn wishes it would happen more often.
"He drove outside and it looked like he couldn't be stopped," Quinn said. "It was very impressive and I'm glad he got rewarded. Of course, you don't know what's going to happen when you throw it out front, but we were fortunate that it went in."
Sundin's decision to remove the protective shield on his helmet between overtime periods may have given him an extra edge.
"It's more a mental thing," he said. "You start to wonder sometimes, just seeing the puck, it's better seeing without it.
I think it was at the point in the game where you're just trying to lose extra weight."
The Flyers grabbed a 2-0 lead eight minutes into the game on goals by defensemen Eric Weinrich and Eric Desjardins. But Robert Reichel and Kaberle erased the deficit before Mogilny gave Toronto a 3-2 advantage with four minutes left in the second period.
Mark Recchi drew Philadelphia even three minutes into the third, but Ed Belfour stopped 15 shots in the overtimes to keep the Maple Leafs in the game.
"We came out really strong and found a way to come back in the third period," Desjardins said. "I thought we played a pretty good game in overtime. It could have gone either way."
"That was a helluva hockey game," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock added. "This was two teams with everything on the line. They were hitting us and we were knocking them. It was two desperate hockey clubs not giving an inch."
Game Four is Wednesday in Toronto.
With a league-leading 55 points on the road during the regular season, the Flyers stormed out of the gates at the Air Canada Centre.
With a penalty about to be called on Toronto, Weinrich took a pass from Tony Amonte in the high slot and skated in alone before putting a shot between Belfour's body and right arm at 4:02 to give Philadelphia the lead.
A healthy scratch in Game One, Justin Williams drove down the left side and backhanded a shot that Belfour stopped. After knocking over the goalie, Williams regained control and went around the net before dishing to Desjardins low in the right faceoff circle.
The former Flyers captain fired a shot that glanced off Gary Roberts' skate and sneaked between Belfour's pads at 8:02 for his second playoff goal.
Just 37 seconds later, the Maple Leafs halved the deficit.
Goalless in his previous 26 postseason games, Robert Reichel gathered the rebound of defenseman Bryan McCabe's point shot and slipped it under Cechmanek's right pad while alone in front to make it 2-1.
With Philadelphia's Sami Kapanen serving a tripping penalty, Reichel made a cross-slot pass to Kaberle in the left circle, where the defenseman fired it into an open net 2:18 into the second to even it at 2-2.
Thanks to Darcy Tucker, who returned to the lineup after missing Game Two with a knee injury, the Maple Leafs capitalized on an out-of-position Flyers' defense to take the lead.
While tied up with Claude Lapointe, Tucker barreled into defenseman Chris Therien, leaving the right side open. From the corner, Mogilny walked to the faceoff circle and perfectly placed a shot over Cechmanek's left shoulder and off the goalpost for his eighth tally in 10 career games against the Czech goalie.
"Our game is playing proper defensively," Recchi said. "In the second, we really got away from it. It hurt us. They deserved the win tonight."
Cechmanek kept it a one-goal deficit with 2:40 left in the second, lifting his right pad while laying on the ice to deny Sundin. Less than 30 seconds later, he stopped Tom Fitzgerald's point-blank chance while having Owen Nolan's first shot of the series hit his mask with 20 seconds left.
"The second period was probably our worst of the series," Weinrich said. "They took it to us in the second. ... When you don't play a whole game, guys like Mogilny or Sundin are going to hurt you. We didn't play a complete game."
Former Leafs defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich unleashed a shot from right point that hit a pileup in front. The puck went to the right circle, where Recchi gathered it and put it past Belfour at 2:59 of the third to knot the contest at 3-3.
Simon Gagne had a golden opportunity on a Flyers' power play with 3:15 left but could not control the puck while alone at the right side of the net.
Just 30 seconds into the first overtime, Roberts was denied from the doorstep by Cechmanek. But Belfour matched his counterpart midway through the session by stopping Roenick's wrist shot from the slot.
Philadelphia defenseman Kim Johnsson nearly ended the game with 5:46 left, but his shot from the slot bounced off the left post.
"It can be your best friend, and it was there," Belfour said.
"He made some big stops and we got a big break on that one in overtime," Quinn added.

von: http://www.nhl.com

Mats

Vielleicht wirds ja besser!?

AC/DC rules!