RE:Ergebnisse 04/19/03

Dallas vs. Edmonton 4:2

Game 6: Dallas @ Edmonton 3:2

EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Another postseason meeting with the Dallas Stars came to an all-too-familiar end for the Edmonton Oilers.
Mike Modano scored with 6:52 remaining as the Stars squandered a two-goal lead before eliminating the Oilers for the fifth time in six years with a 3-2 triumph in Game Six of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Since losing to Edmonton in the 1997 quarterfinals, Dallas has won the last five playoff series, knocking out the Oilers in the opening round of their last four postseason appearances.
"It's pretty devastating," Edmonton center Shawn Horcoff said.
"You go from thinking we're going to win this and go back for a Game Seven, where anything can happen to, `Oh my God, we're out and we're not going anywhere, except for home for the summer.' It's almost surreal because everyone in here fully expected we were going to win this series."
Edmonton battled back from an early 2-0 deficit and tied it on second-period goals by Ryan Smyth and Horcoff. But Modano, a long-time postseason nemesis, did in the Oilers again.
Modano had trouble handling defenseman Sergei Zubov's cross-ice pass in the left faceoff circle but finally put a wrist shot over the right arm of goaltender Tommy Salo for his fourth goal of the series and second game-winner.
"It just bounced on me," Modano said. "Zubov made a great pass and it landed just before my stick and just kind of bobbled. I don't know how it got through, maybe just under Tommy's arm."
Marty Turco, who had numerous run-ins around the net, made the lead stand by stopping all 12 shots in the third period. He sprawled to deny rookie Jason Chimera in tight on the left side with 1:17 to play, then snared defenseman Eric Brewer's point shot through traffic with 34 seconds left.
"I knew if I could eliminate their forecheck by moving the puck, it might turn on them a little," Turco said. "The effort to take that part of my game away was there, but I really focused as much as I could. Sometimes it hurt mentally and sometimes physically, but it's just something you have to grind through."
After dropping the series opener at home, the top-seeded Stars won four of the next five games, including two in Edmonton. They will face the upstart Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the conference semifinals.
"Edmonton is one of the most physical teams, they have speed and they gave us a hard time on the forecheck," Dallas defenseman Philippe Boucher said. "It's probably going to be more of the same with Anaheim, but I don't know if you're going to see as many big hits."
There were plenty of big hits in this one, none bigger than rookie defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron's hip check that sent Dallas winger Brenden Morrow head over heels in the final minute of the first period. That helped turn the momentum after the Stars again dominated the opening 19 minutes.
Scott Young got the Stars going just 43 seconds into the game when his centering pass off the right boards hit Salo and deflected into the net.
Boucher made it 2-0 at 10:39. He ripped a blast from the top of the right circle that hit the left goalpost and the back bracing of the net before caroming out. Play continued momentarily before a video review credited Boucher with his first playoff goal since 1994.
"I didn't even know it was in, to be honest with you," Boucher said. "It's one of those that you hit it perfectly and it felt good, probably the best shot I took this year."
Dallas could have had a bigger lead, but Salo stopped Morrow on a breakaway with 3:40 to go in the period.
The momentum generated by Bergeron's hit carried into the second period. At 2:22, Smyth jammed in the puck on a rebound of Georges Laraque's shot for his second goal of the series.
Just over six minutes later, Mike York spun at the top of the left circle and fed Horcoff, who moved down the slot and swept the puck past Turco for his team-best third playoff goal.
"I definitely felt like we had momentum on our side as the game went on, especially in the third," Horcoff said. "I thought we had some really good chances, but Marty kept them in it and made some big saves for them. And we came up a goal short again."

Colorado vs. Minnesota

Game 5: Minnesota @ Colorado 3:2

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Colorado Avalanche again failed to seal the deal.
Manny Fernandez made 26 saves in his first start of the series and Pascal Dupuis had a goal and an assist as the Minnesota Wild avoided elimination with a 3-2 victory over the Avalanche in Game Five of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
Colorado failed for the third straight time to eliminate an opponent. The Avalanche had a three games to two lead over Detroit in last year's conference finals, then did not score in the final two contests as the Red Wings advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.
"I think we did (try to do too much), especially in the second period," Colorado captain Joe Sakic said. "I think we let ourselves get frustrated, and that's it. ... It was one of those days that we were just flat and we just never got going."
After replacing Dwayne Roloson early in Game Four, Fernandez blanked Colorado for two periods in this one as Minnesota built a three-goal lead. The team that has scored first has won all five games in the series.
"When we score the first goal, we have a pretty decent record, so yeah, it was important," Dupuis said.
Dupuis got an assist on defenseman Willie Mitchell's goal 3:41 into the opening period, then scored the eventual game-winner with 78 seconds to go in the third. In between, defenseman Filip Kuba had a power-play goal.
"We didn't want to go out on a bad note," Wild center Wes Walz said. "Every game we play from here on out, we just want to leave everything we have out on the ice. You don't want to end the season with a bad feeling on how you played the last game, so we're going to be playing Game Sevens the whole way through now."
Steven Reinprecht got the Avalanche on the board with 17:59 remaining and defenseman Rob Blake made things interesting with 28 seconds left. But Colorado could not get the equalizer, ensuring the series will return to Minnesota for Game Six on Monday.
"I thought we were ready to go, but obviously, we came out flat and (Minnesota) was able to take advantage of it," Avalanche coach Tony Granato said. "They played a sound game and by the time we got going, it was way too late. It is disappointing and it's over with, it's behind us."
Held to one goal in Games Three and Four, the Wild got one from an unlikely source to grab the lead.
With both teams down a man, Mitchell got a pass from fellow defenseman Lubomir Sekeras above the right faceoff circle and fired a slap shot past goaltender Patrick Roy for his first career playoff goal.
"I'm out there to protect the lead," said Mitchell, who scored twice in 69 regular-season games. "I think Patrick wanted to do too much. He wanted to kick it into the corner and I think it caught the inside of his stick and went in. We talked about that, if we kept working hard, maybe we'd get a bounce. And we got a bounce there."
Kuba got Minnesota's fifth power-play goal of the series at 3:45 of the second period. After a shot failed to reach the net, Avalanche defenseman Martin Skoula kicked the puck to the top of the slot. Kuba leaned into a slap shot and beat a diving Roy, who had lost his stick.
Sekeras broke up a pass for Milan Hejduk on the doorstep during an Avalanche power play and Fernandez got his left shoulder on a blast by Peter Forsberg from the left circle midway through the second.
"We were very excited with the job Manny did," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "Hopefully, he will keep going."
Dupuis made it 3-0 before the period ended, taking advantage of a turnover and beating Roy with a slap shot from the top of the right circle.
Reinprecht finally gave the Pespi Center crowd something to cheer about when he got the puck at the top of the right circle, turned and put a wrister by Fernandez for his first playoff goal.
But Fernandez lunged to deny Forsberg on a wraparound at the left post with 9:10 left and got his right pad on Forsberg's rebound attempt with 2:32 remaining.
"I know he's nifty and when he brought it back to the net, I knew it wasn't his last move and I knew he wasn't going to keep going with it," Fernandez said. "I watch a lot of tapes, and so does the rest of the team, so we know this guy's pretty good."
Blake reduced the deficit to a goal when his backhander from the top of the slot hit the stick of Minnesota's Darby Hendrickson and found room under Fernandez's right arm.
But Fernandez blocked Sakic's wrister from the top of the left circle with 10 seconds left to preserve the win.
"It felt like they had seven or eight guys out there at the end of the game," Walz said. "They were coming hard and Manny played unbelievable. He made some key saves at the right moments for us."

Philadelphia vs. Toronto 3:2

Toronto @ Philadelphia 1:4

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- After disappearing for nearly a year, Sami Kapanen finally showed up in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Kapanen scored two power-play goals and Tony Amonte had two assists as the Philadelphia Flyers posted a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs to take a three games to two lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Kapanen vanished during the Carolina Hurricanes' magical run to the Finals last season, scoring just one goal in 23 postseason games. He doubled his output from last year's playoffs in this one to help put the Flyers one win from advancing to the conference semifinals.
"It has been a tough 12 months," Kapanen said. "My offensive struggle pretty much started last year in the playoffs and it carried throughout the season this year. My numbers weren't what they were last year. ... Being an offensive player and not putting numbers on the board, I was starting to press.
Hopefully, these goals will relax me."
After Wednesday's triple-overtime marathon, defenseman Aki Berg gave Toronto a lead 2 1/2 minutes into the game with his first career playoff tally. But the Flyers responded with goals 1:55 apart late in the first period and never looked back.
Former Maple Leaf Dmitry Yushkevich and Simon Gagne also tallied for Philadelphia, which lost defenseman Eric Desjardins to a foot injury midway through the third.
Game Six is Monday in Toronto.
With Philadelphia applying early pressure, Darcy Tucker broke out of his own zone to lead a 3-on-2 rush against Roman Cechmanek.
Travis Green took a feed from Tucker before dishing to Berg, who unleashed a slap shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Cechmanek at 2:34 for his first tally in 42 postseason games.
It was the first shot of the game after the teams combined for 113 in Game Four.
Defenseman Chris Therien thwarted another Toronto scoring chance, breaking up a 2-on-1 midway through the first, before the Flyers capitalized on a power-play opportunity to tie it.
With Tucker in the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck, defenseman Kim Johnsson fired a shot from the left point that Kapanen deflected between teammate Jeremy Roenick's legs and past a screened Ed Belfour at 14:30 for his first playoff tally since Game Four of last year's conference finals against Toronto.
"I was in front of the net on the power play and I ended up just getting the stick on that one," Kapanen said. "Johnsson shot and it went off my stick."
Less than two minutes later, Philadelphia took advantage of a turnover to grab the lead.
The hero of Game Three with his double-overtime goal, Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle coughed up the puck behind his own net.
Roenick pounced on it and fed Yushkevich, whose shot from the slot beat Belfour low to the glove side at 16:25.
"I was just happy to score a goal in the playoffs," Yushkevich said. "It's not like it was a game-winning goal. I was just happy to score that goal. Jeremy and Tony did a great job in the corner and they got the puck away from the Toronto defense.
Their forwards collapsed down low to help their defense. The slot was wide open and JR saw me. He's such a great player that I didn't have to yell."
"I tried to handle the puck and it ended up in our net," Kaberle said. "It ended up being the turning point of the game. It's tough. What I have to do is think about the next game and forget about this one."
Kaberle's coach agreed with his assessment of the goal.
"What tires you out is when you give up simple goals. That tires anybody out," Pat Quinn said. "The power-play goal was one of those ones that goes in, but the penalty was just atrocious. We can't have those kind of penalties. The second goal, I can pick the guy and say, `What the hell was he thinking?'" Tucker nearly evened the contest after Mark Recchi was stopped in front by Belfour, but his shot with 2:15 left in the period hit the right goalpost.
"We hit a couple of posts that could have made it 2-2 or 3-2 for us," Tucker said. "Those bounces in playoff hockey are what counts. ... Sometimes, when you want to win a championship, you have to have some luck and right now, we're not creating some luck."
Cechmanek was saved again with 12 minutes to go in the second.
While shorthanded, Toronto captain Mats Sundin intercepted Johnsson's pass at the blue line and skated away on a 2-on-1. He dished to Alexander Mogilny, who returned after missing Game Four with a concussion-like symptoms. But the Russian star was denied his sixth goal of the series when his shot from the left circle hit the near post.
The Flyers had their own 2-on-1 a minute later, but Marty Murray could not get to the rebound of Gagne's shot from the left circle. Philadelphia had a 3-on-1 on its subsequent trip down the ice, but Amonte failed to record a shot.
The freshest player on either team, Justin Williams used his speed to help give Philadelphia a two-goal cushion.
Playing just his fifth game following left knee surgery, Williams broke up a pass in the Toronto zone and carried up the right side. He dished to Gagne, whose pass to Keith Primeau was blocked in front. But Gagne followed the puck down the slot and banged it past Belfour at 14:35 for his second goal of the series.
"It was a turnover on their blue line," Gagne said. "Justin had the puck and went wide. He gave it to me and it became a 2-on-1 with me and Primeau. I tried to get it to Primeau, but my pass came right back on my blade and I shot the puck. I put it right between his legs."
"For me, the turning point of the game was Gagne's goal," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The third goal gave us a checking cushion that helped us a lot. Toronto is such an opportunistic team, they have so many people who can score from a distance, so all they need is one shot. That goal gave us a little bit of a cushion that we haven't had."
Mogilny caught Primeau with a high stick seven minutes into the third and was given a double-minor. Philadelphia took control on the ensuing power play.
Defenseman Eric Weinrich unleashed a shot from the left point that Belfour stopped. Standing at the left side of the net, Kapanen corraled the rebound and banked it off the goalie's blocker at 8:41 for his second of the game.
"I was in front of the net just hoping to hit the goalie or go on the wide side because Michal Handzus was right there," Kapanen said.
"We're a team that has had a tough time putting 60 good minutes together and at playoff time, you need to do that," Sundin said.
"We play good in spurts and there are spurts where we're not playing well. And that's costing us."
Cechmanek withstood Toronto's last gasp with 9:25 remaining, denying defenseman Robert Svehla from the slot with his right pad before using his glove to knock down Kaberle's shot off the rebound.
"He was excellent tonight," Hitchcock said. "His whole game was excellent. He was solid."
During the Maple Leafs' flurry, Desjardins suffered a right foot injury and was helped to the locker room. He had X-rays taken and will be re-evaluated Sunday.
"He took a slap shot in the foot," Hitchcock said. "He'll be evaluated and we'll see if he'll be ready for Game Six. We won't know anything for the next day or so."

von: http://www.nhl.com

Mats

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