Stars eliminate Sharks with 4OT victory

By The Associated Press
The Dallas Stars have finally made it back to the Western Conference finals. It took the eighth longest game in NHL history to do it.

Brenden Morrow scored a power play goal 9:03 into the fourth overtime by deflecting a pass from Stephane Robidas as the Stars eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early Monday morning - the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history.

"Robie made a good, heads-up play, faked the defender down and I was there for an easy one. I shouldn't miss that one," said Morrow, the Stars captain. "At that point of the game, you don't really know what you've got left."

The Stars are going to the conference finals for the first time since 2000, when they returned to the Stanley Cup finals the year after winning the franchise's only championship. They play Game 1 on Thursday night in Detroit, which wrapped up its second-round sweep of Colorado on Thursday night.

After winning the first three games in the series, the Stars finally knocked out the Sharks on the third try and avoided having to go to San Jose for another game. The win came after having two apparent goals by Morrow disallowed following video reviews in Game 5, and Evgeni Nabokov's sensational glove save early in the first overtime of Game 6 - well before midnight.

It was the fourth overtime game in the series, and the fifth game decided by one goal.

"This whole series was a coin flip," Sharks center Jeremy Roenick said.

The deciding game lasted 5 hours, 14 minutes - ending the third-longest in Stars history. They lost the other two, but Morrow made sure that didn't happen again with his seventh goal of the playoffs.

"That was as fitting as anything I've every seen in sports, that Brenden Morrow got the game-winner," coach Dave Tippett said. "It's been a long time since I've seen somebody have a series like that. That's him taking the team on his back and carrying us. Turco was great too."

Marty Turco had a franchise-record 61 saves for the Stars. Nabokov stopped 53 shots, but not the one set up after Brian Campbell was called for tripping Loui Eriksson close to the Dallas net.

"You're trying to battle for a puck. From my point, he started flopping," Campbell said. "I can't do much about it."

Coach Ron Wilson didn't dispute the call.

"Well, it was tripping," Wilson said. "It was a trip, we had to kill it off, and we didn't."

San Jose thought it had a game-winner midway through the third overtime, with Ryane Clowe poking a puck around Turco. Clowe and nearby teammates wearily lifted their arms, but the puck was under the goalie's glove and not in the net. The Sharks even had a power play in the third overtime when Nicklas Grossman was called for hooking, but couldn't convert.

Nabokov's incredible glove save 1:31 into the first overtime kept the game going and prevented a series winner by Brad Richards.

Nabokov made a stab of Richards' one-timer, grabbing the puck with his glove sweeping just inside the post and the puck above the goal line. Referee Tim Peel was behind the net and quickly waved off the goal even though the red light lit up. The play was reviewed by off-ice officials, who determined the puck didn't completely cross the goal line.

Mike Ribeiro had three chances to score in the final 75 seconds of the first overtime. He was rejected on a pair of bang-bang attempts, then with 47 seconds left had another shot that deflected off Nabokov and then the crossbar.

Turco was sprawling out of the crease when he stopped two shots by Sharks captain Patrick Marleau with just over 8 minutes left in the first overtime.

"It's nice to be on this side of it for once," Turco said. "We've had some long ones before. But none of them was more memorable than this one. It was 99 percent fun tonight."

San Jose played in overtime without Milan Michalek, who was face down on the ice when regulation ended after taking a hard hit from Morrow. Michalek, who scored the go-ahead goal in Game 4, had to be helped off the ice and never returned to the bench. He was later shown on TV leaving the locker room with his left arm in a sling.

"We have nothing to hang our heads in shame about. We showed character and kept going," Wilson said. "We were down a player, played overtime without him - a full game with a short bench. Our guys kept going and going and going. We had a ton of chances."

Wilson refused to discuss the injury, saying "it's irrelevant" since the season is over.

After some spectacular saves by Turco, he appeared off-guard when the Sharks got even 1-1 only 1:39 into the third period. Craig Rivet knocked down the puck in the right circle, then Clowe spun and knocked it toward the net. The puck skirted the inside of the right post and went in for Clowe's fifth goal of the playoffs.

At the end of the second period, three Sharks were swarming near the net when Turco pushed away a shot by Jonathan Cheechoo with his stick. That came about a minute after his pad save on a shot by Tomas Plihal.

Antti Miettinen scored on a rebound 4:49 into the second period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.

Sergei Zubov took a shot that ricocheted off Nabokov, who then collided with Niklas Hagman. There was no whistle, and Nabokov lost his stick in a desperate dive to his right trying to stop Miettinen's putback.

Turco got a break soon after that, when a shot by Pavelski from the side slid through the crease between the posts and the goalie on his back.


Notes
The previous longest game this postseason was Game 4 of the Eastern Conference series between Philadelphia and Washington that lasted 86 minutes, 40 seconds. ... Stars C Stu Barnes missed his third straight game since taking a hard hit to the head in Game 3 on Tuesday night. ... Zubov was in his 108th playoff games for Dallas, the third most in team history behind Mike Modano (167) and Neal Broten (115).

Michalek's goal in 3rd keeps Sharks alive

By The Associated Press
Sharks captain Patrick Marleau thought he had pushed the puck too far ahead. Maybe it was too much to expect another short-handed goal.

Instead, in an eerie replay for the Dallas Stars, Marleau managed to finish the play with a short-handed goal for the second straight game. This one came in Wednesday night's 2-1 victory that kept San Jose from being swept in the Western Conference semifinals.

"He's given us that boost," teammate Joe Pavelski said. "When the puck is chipped out, he's got that extra step that a few guys might not be able to get around the defense."

Like he did in Game 3 on Tuesday, Marleau converted a mistake by Sergie Zubov, this time midway through the second period for a tying goal - right after the Stars missed by inches of taking a 2-0 lead.

"He hasn't played penalty kill all year long," Sharks center Joe Thornton said. "He just has great speed. And obviously when he gets the chance, he's going to put it in the back of the net. That gave our bench a huge lift."

San Jose then finally took advantage of a power play when Milan Michalek scored with 16:34 left.

The Sharks were 0-for-4 on power plays in Game 4 before getting another chance when Mike Modano drew a delay of game penalty for knocking a puck into the stands. Brian Campbell made a cross-ice pass to Thornton, who then pushed the puck back to the front of the net, through the legs of Jonathan Cheechoo and onto Michalek's stick.

"One of the keys to our success has been our discipline. We took a lot of penalties and they capitalized," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. "It's tough to keep the flow and momentum when you're killing off that many penalties."

Game 5 is Friday night in San Jose, where the Stars won the first two games of the series. The visiting team has won 14 of the past 18 games between the Pacific Division rivals, dating to last season.

The Stars missed a chance for their first postseason series sweep since 1999, when they beat Edmonton in the first round and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Dallas still has three more chances to advance to the Western Conference finals.

Zubov lost the puck near the blue line in the Stars zone, and Marleau charged down the ice and shot the puck past Marty Turco. It was the fourth goal of the playoffs for Marleau, and gave him 24 since 2003-04, matching Calgary's Jarome Iginla for the most during that period.

Marleau's goal came after Brad Richards' shot got past Evgeni Nabokov, but ricocheted off the far upper corner of the goal. That was one of two shots by Dallas during the delayed whistle before the power play that went the wrong way the Stars.

"It's a game of inches, it was close," Richards said. "You'd like to have those chances back but that's not the way it is."

It was only the third game for Zubov after the 15-season veteran and two-time Stanley Cup champion missed three months after operations to place a screw in a bone in his right foot and to repair a sports hernia. He made up for the Game 3 mistake with a tying goal, and after a turnover in Game 2 had the primary assistant on Modano's tiebreaking goal.

But Zubov never amended the latest miscue, which came when the Stars appeared to be ready to put the series away.

"Those are uncharacteristic mistakes by Zubie," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "Those are mistakes that you'd like to see cleaned up."

After San Jose started the second period with five shots in five minutes without getting one past Turco, the Stars capitalized on a mistake by the Sharks.

Devin Setoguchi was behind the net when he tried to clear the puck. Instead the rookie passed it right to the middle of the ice onto the stick of Jere Lehtinen, whose unassisted goal, his third of the playoffs, made it 1-0.

But that was the only goal past Nabokov, who stopped 17 shots. Turco had 22 saves.

San Jose also come out firing to start the game, attacking the net. But Turco spread out to stop a wrister by Michalek and stopped a point-blank wrister by Mike Grier.

On their two power plays in the first 10 minutes, however, the Sharks didn't even got off a shot. It was Dallas that had scoring chances each time it was down a man. Morrow got off a shot during the first power play and Modano, in the penalty box for tripping during the first one, stole the puck off the stick of Christian Ehrhoff from behind and then charged toward the net before Nabokov came out to bury the puck.

The Sharks had another power play before the first intermission, when Matt Niskanen got whistled for slashing. That call came seconds after his hard open-ice collision with Jeremy Roenick knocked the stick out of his hands.

San Jose finally got credited with a shot on goal while on the power play, but it was actually a crossing pass that Turco kicked away.

"We'll embrace the challenge to make history in coming back from a 3-0 deficit," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "We've been sitting back too much and not playing Sharks hockey. There were a few blips, but it was a pretty solid effort tonight."


Notes
San Jose avoided being swept for the first time since Detroit beat them in the second round of the 1995 playoffs. ... Stars C Stu Barnes missed the game, a night after taking a hard hit to the head. Tippett said only that Barnes was "feeling the effects" after taking the shot to the head from Cheechoo in the third period of Game 3. He is day to day.

Stars take 3-0 series lead over San Jose

DALLAS (AP)—Mattias Norstrom was the most unlikely scorer on the ice for the Dallas Stars. Still, he took a whack at the puck.

And it went in the net.

Norstrom’s goal 4:37 into overtime Tuesday night gave the Stars a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks and a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

“I tried to get it on net, it went off a stick. Fortunately, it went in,” said Norstrom, sounding as shocked as anyone about his game-winner.

“He would have been real deep in my depth chart,” captain Brenden Morrow said with a smile.

Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov had already made several impressive saves in overtime, but there were too many bodies around him and he never saw Norstrom’s shot from the top of the left circle after a pass from Mike Ribeiro. The puck slipped through the traffic, clipping Jeremy Roenick’s stick along the way.

It was only the second goal in 47 career playoff games for Norstrom, a 14-season defenseman who has scored only 18 regular-season goals for three NHL teams.

“He just got it over me and it hit my stick,” Roenick said. “It was another bad break. It’s amazing how we can’t get a bounce in this series.”

Sharks captain Patrick Marleau put his team up 1-0 when he scored an unassisted short-handed goal with 35 seconds left in the first period. But he had already been denied a power-play goal because of an inadvertent whistle.

Only 4 minutes into the game, and already on a power play, Marleau jammed a loose puck past Marty Turco. But referee Don VanMassenhoven quickly waved off the score, indicating that he had already blown a whistle.

The referee didn’t realize that the puck still hadn’t been controlled after Joe Thornton’s shot because the ref’s view from behind the net was obstructed by Turco, who was completely extended and on his side after making the initial stop.

“I was surprised the whistle was blown,” Marleau said.

“(The referee) can’t see the puck because he’s standing behind the net,” Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. “The puck’s laying in the crease, he put it in. It should be a goal. He made a mistake, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The last time the Stars had a 3-0 series lead was in the first round of the 1999 playoffs, when they swept Edmonton and went on to win the Stanley Cup. This is their 16th postseason series since then.

Dallas can wrap up the series Wednesday night at home.

“There’s a lot of momentum right now,” Mike Modano said. “It’ll be a fun night, an elimination game.”

Nabokov stopped 27 shots, including Niklas Hagman’s penalty shot with 9:10 left in regulation when the goalie slid to his left to deny the backhander. Hagman got that opportunity after he was taken down by Christian Ehrhoff skating toward the net with the puck.

In overtime, Nabokov denied Loui Eriksson twice. The second shot by Eriksson came as he tried to knock in the rebound of Brad Richards’ shot that the goalie kicked away.

“There’s no quit in this room. All the games have been pretty close,” Nabokov said. “It’s been little bounces here and there. … We have to regroup and forget these games.”

San Jose had a 2-1 lead heading into the third period of Game 2 before the Stars scored four goals. In the series opener, Norstrom had the primary assist on Morrow's game-winning overtime goal.

Sergei Zubov, whose turnover led to Marleau's short-hander, made amends in the first minute of the third when he scored on a shot from the top of the right circle.

The Stars began the third period on a power play, and 35 seconds later had a two-man advantage when Ehrhoff was whistled for hooking Morrow. On the ensuing goal, Morrow was in front of Nabokov, providing a screen when Zubov took a pass from Ribeiro.

Zubov, the 15-season veteran and two-time Stanley Cup winner, played only his second game since mid-January after operations to place a screw in a bone in his right foot and to repair a sports hernia. He had the primary assist on Modano's tiebreaking goal in Game 2.

But with the Stars on the power play after Thornton's cross-checking penalty, Zubov blindly passed back to an unexpecting Jere Lehtinen. The puck was instead picked up at center ice by Marleau, who drove and shot over Turco's left shoulder.

"I thought for the first two periods we played a perfect road game," Wilson said. "We had some good opportunities and snuffed theirs out. We took at bad penalty at the end of the second period and then we put a gun to our head with that 5-on-3 opportunity, and they converted."


Notes
Dallas has outscored opponents 19-5 in the third period and overtime through nine playoff games. ... The Stars announced during the game that C Steve Ott has signed a new $2.85 million, two-year contract through the 2009-10 season. ... Sharks D Craig Rivet was knocked hard to the ice with 14 minutes left in the third period, when he had a head-to-head collision with teammate Brian Campbell, who was knocked into him after taking an open-ice check from Morrow. Rivet remained down for a couple of minutes, but went to the bench on his own and was soon back in the game. ... The Sharks and Stars were forced to play back-to-back games because the American Airlines Center was already booked for a potential NBA playoff game that won't even be played. The Dallas Mavericks were eliminated from their first-round series with a loss in New Orleans on Tuesday night.

Stars ride 3rd period to 2-0 lead on Sharks

By The Associated Press

Joe Pavelski collapsed like a kid on rented skates, nudging the puck straight to Brad Richards as he fell. Richards, who has a few big playoff goals in his past, turned that turnover into the Dallas Stars' tying score before the Sharks even knew they were doomed.
Three goals later, Mike Modano and the Stars were headed home from a building they would prefer never to leave with a two-game series lead and ample reason to think their second-round series will be a short one.


The Sharks? Just like Pavelski, they've lost their edge.

Modano scored the tiebreaking goal early in the Stars' four-goal third period, and Marty Turco made 29 saves in a 5-2 victory in Game 2 on Sunday night.

Richards scored the tying goal just 32 seconds into the third period on Pavelski's accidental gift, and Niklas Hagman added two insurance goals in the Stars' eighth victory in their last nine trips to San Jose. Mike Ribeiro also scored an early goal before Dallas put a tremendous finish on another profitable night at the Shark Tank.

"We've had amazing third periods so far in the playoffs," said Modano, who has six goals in six games in San Jose this season. "It was a big trip for us. Now it's up to us to respond to this at home. We know this is far from over, but at the same time, we had a great two days here. Every shift, every night, we've looked hungry."

Dallas hasn't reached the conference finals since 2000, when the Stars beat San Jose in the second round on the way to their second straight Stanley Cup finals appearance. As Modano noted, they're thriving this season with big finishes: The Stars have four multiple-goal third periods in their eight playoff games.

Games 3 and 4 are back-to-back, starting Tuesday night in Dallas. The Sharks might have a better chance to get competitive in Texas, since the NHL's best road team during the regular season has won three of its last four games in Dallas.

"We've played very well in Dallas all season long," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "We can just relax now and push the pace, and play as a desperate hockey team. You just have to keep playing on. You can't worry about your missed opportunities."

Milan Michalek and Joe Pavelski scored for the second-seeded Sharks, who are 4-5 overall in the playoffs with none of the momentum they acquired during their 20-game regular-season streak without a regulation defeat. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 21 shots, but was no closer to top form than his teammates.

"We started good, and we had a lead after the second (period)," Michalek said. "We let it slip away. We can't let it happen again. We have to go there and win two. We've been good on the road all season."

San Jose nursed a 2-1 lead heading into the third period, but Pavelski's giveaway encapsulated everything that's gone poorly for the Sharks at home - and everything that's working for the Stars, whose persistence and preparation allows them to seize such breaks.

"I've been fighting it a bit through the first five periods, and that's not a good feeling," said Richards, the Dallas newcomer who scored an NHL-record seven game-winning goals while leading Tampa Bay to the 2004 Cup. "I kept grinding away, trying to make things happen, and then sometimes you catch a break."

Modano then put the Stars ahead with 16:21 to play on a goal set up by an exceptional play from defenseman Sergei Zubov, who was in Dallas' lineup for the first time since Jan. 17. The two-time Stanley Cup winner underwent surgery on a sports hernia in Germany earlier in the month.

Late in a prolonged Dallas cycle, Zubov made a stunning cross-ice backhand pass out of a graceful pirouette, and Modano buried his second goal of the series.

"You have to realize it's coming to you," said Modano, who's been playing with Zubov since 1996. "He made another great play."

When Hagman banged home his first goal, thousands of fans headed for the exits in souvenir teal T-shirts handed out by the Sharks before the game. Hagman added an empty-netter with 1:15 to play.

Dallas won the opener 3-2 on captain Brenden Morrow's overtime goal, using its trapping defensive style to neutralize the Sharks' offensive talent as effectively as they did against Anaheim in the opening round. San Jose has struggled to adjust to a slower pace after beating the run-and-gun Calgary Flames in the first round.

After Pavelski and Ribeiro traded first-period goals, San Jose went ahead late in the second when Rivet and Brian Campbell made sharp passes to set up Michalek on a breakaway, which he converted easily after Turco's overeager attempt at a poke-check. Michalek, the Sharks' second-leading scorer during the regular season, went scoreless in seven games against Calgary before notching a goal in each of his first two games against Dallas.


Notes
Dallas D Philippe Boucher remained sidelined with a strained hip. ... San Jose replaced Nabokov with Brian Boucher with 2:45 to play. ... Dallas played with seven defensemen in uniform, scratching C Toby Petersen for Zubov's return. ... Sharks D Kyle McLaren missed his fourth straight game with a groin injury.

Morrow's OT goal propels Stars past Sharks

By The Associated Press
Their dressing room is small and spare, and the teal-colored crowd despises them. Yet the Dallas Stars feel right at home these days in the Shark Tank.

Even when they gave up a tying goal late in regulation Friday night, the Stars seemed more comfortable and capable than their hosts. Brenden Morrow then proved it with a game-winner that got Dallas off to another fine playoff start.

Morrow scored his second goal 4:39 into overtime, and the Stars opened their second-round series with a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

Mike Modano also scored another timely goal against one of his favorite opponents, and Marty Turco made 25 saves in the Stars' seventh win in their last eight trips to Silicon Valley. They've thoroughly dominated the Pacific Division champion Sharks here for two years, leading Modano to jokingly rename his team "the San Jose Stars" after their sixth straight win in January.

"It's a really fun place to play. The atmosphere is great," said Morrow, who already has five goals - two more than his previous career playoff high - in Dallas' seven postseason games.

"Our goal was to come in and steal a game," Morrow added. "You never know what it will be or how many goals it will take. We didn't want to be denied. Marty had such a great first period for us to keep us in the game."

Game 2 is Sunday night, with Game 3 in Dallas on Tuesday.

After eliminating defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim in the first round, the fifth-seeded Stars rallied from a two-shot first period and an early deficit to take away home-ice advantage from the division rival Sharks, who needed seven games to put away Calgary in the opening round.

Jonathan Cheechoo scored the tying goal for San Jose with 3:02 left in the third period, but the Sharks' defensive confusion allowed Mattias Norstrom to whip the puck across the ice to Morrow early in OT. The Dallas captain scored easily against an off-balance Evgeni Nabokov, who finished with 16 saves.

"Some good things have happened here," said Modano, who became the NHL's leading American-born scorer during a game in San Jose last year. "I've had a lot of games over a lot of seasons against these guys. After so many years and games, I kind of feel comfortable out West."

Milan Michalek scored an early goal for the second-seeded Sharks, who blew Game 1 for the second straight series. San Jose again endured special-teams mistakes while taking a handful of careless penalties and struggling to generate offense against the Dallas trap.

"We need to do a better job on some guys on some of their lines," Sharks captain Patrick Marleau said. "We need to get more shots and generate more traffic. We'll make some changes and go from there."

The Sharks reached the second round for their NHL-best fourth straight season, while Dallas ended a streak of three straight first-round defeats by eliminating the Ducks in impressive fashion.

Both teams came out cautiously for their ninth meeting of the season. The Stars didn't get their first shot of the game until late in their second power play with 3:36 left in the first period.

Michalek, who went scoreless in the Sharks' first seven games against Calgary, got credit for their first goal when his shot trickled underneath Turco midway through the second period. Modano, who scored four goals in four trips to San Jose during the regular season, tied it with a power-play goal 76 seconds later, putting a one-timer through traffic.

"(On) the goals they scored, we lost the battles," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "We turned it over against a great line. You don't win the battles, (you) give somebody like Mike Ribeiro two or three shots at making plays. It should be one, and then we snuff it and get the puck out."

Morrow then scored on a rebound of Ribeiro's shot for his team-leading fourth goal of the postseason. The Sharks couldn't break through until Cheechoo, the goal-scoring specialist who also tied Game 4 against Calgary with a remarkable late score, banged home Torrey Mitchell's rebound of Matt Carle's shot for his fourth goal of the postseason.

Dallas had a power play in the final 2 1/2 minutes of regulation, but couldn't score.

The clubs split eight meetings during the regular season, with each winning its first three trips to the other team's building before two late-season home victories. The Sharks and Stars racked up 160 penalty minutes in the regular-season finale 19 days earlier, with several fighting majors in both clubs' most-penalized game of the season.

Though they were even against each other, the clubs finished the regular season on opposite trajectories. San Jose trailed the division-leading Stars by 11 points on Feb. 29, but a 20-game string without a regulation defeat catapulted the Sharks past Dallas to the Pacific title.

Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov was scratched again despite rejoining workouts this week. Zubov, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, has been out since Jan. 17 because of a sports hernia.


Notes
Both clubs played their first overtime game of the postseason. ... Dallas' Shark Tank winning streak ended with San Jose's overtime victory March 27. ... C Jeremy Roenick, who scored four points Tuesday in San Jose's clinching win over Calgary, is second behind Modano on the list of American-born scorers. ... San Jose played its third straight game without D Kyle McLaren, who has a groin injury.

Rangers blow three-goal lead against Pens

By The Associated Press
A memorable Pittsburgh comeback left the Penguins laughing at each other, an improbable victory accomplished. And left the New York Rangers, with their decided edge in experience, wondering how they possibly could lose such a big lead in such a big game.

Evgeni Malkin deflected Sidney Crosby's one-timer from the right point on a Pittsburgh power play with 1:41 remaining to finish a frantic comeback, and the Penguins rallied from a three-goal deficit against the Rangers for a 5-4 victory in their second-round playoff series opener Friday night.

Petr Sykora and Marian Hossa scored 20 seconds apart early in the third period during Pittsburgh's second such flurry of their rally, and the Penguins shook off Scott Gomez's tying goal midway through the period to win it.

"A game is never finished for us," Sykora said, referring to the Penguins' wealth of scorers. "We have the power to score to score a lot of goals here. It doesn't matter if we're down one, two, three goals."

The Rangers lost for the first time in four road games in these playoffs, an unexpected ending after they seized the momentum and, it seemed, control of the game with a 3-0 lead. But they couldn't have guessed the Penguins would twice score two goals in 20 seconds or less against a team known for its defensive commitment and patience.

"Pittsburgh isn't where they're at because they're a poor team and they don't know how to bounce back," coach Tom Renney said. "We were certainly aware of that - almost to a fault."

Just when it appeared the two Atlantic Division rivals were headed to overtime, one of the many former Penguins who played a key role in the game, Martin Straka, was called for interference with 3:20 remaining.

Crosby took Ryan Whitney's pass and, shooting beyond his normal range from beyond the right circle, put a slap shot on net that deflected off Malkin's shin guard for the Penguins' only power-play goal. The play was briefly reviewed to make sure Malkin didn't kick the puck into the net.

"I saw it was going wide and I reached for it and it hit Malkin's leg and went in," goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. "We just have to forget this. I don't want to think about it, I just want to move on."

Crosby doesn't own the best slap shot, so Malkin marveled at how he could take such a good one at such a key time.

"His slap shot is, uhh, not that good," Malkin said through an interpreter. "That shot he just put everything in it, all the motion, all the power and he shot that puck that hard."

So hard, they probably felt it in New York.

"(Ahead) 3-0 in the playoffs, you'd like to think it's over, but what are you going to do?" Gomez said. "We can't get in a track meet with those guys. It's over, there's nothing you can do about it."

Game 2 is Sunday in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins have won their last 11.

"That one hurts. I thought we had it," Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr said. "The second one is going to be even tougher, but we have to do it somehow."

The Rangers had tied it at 4 after Jagr - who won the Stanley Cup in his first two NHL seasons with Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992 - carried the puck behind the net, then threw it in front, missing Straka but finding Gomez for a one-timer.

Long before that, Jarkko Ruutu and Pascal Dupuis scored in a span of 14 seconds midway through the second period to get the Penguins back in it after the crafty, patient Rangers appeared to be in control.

"They maybe thought we were going to close the book right there, but we came back hard," Dupuis said.

In a game filled with fortuitous bounces and deflections on a poor ice surface in which nearly every goal ticked off a skate or took a lucky hop, the Rangers took their big lead on goals by Straka, Chris Drury and Sean Avery against Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Drury and Avery, the super pest who riled up the New Jersey Devils during the Rangers' five-game opening round series, scored 1:45 apart early in the second.

Former Penguins defenseman Michal Rozsival had three assists, and defenseman Marc Staal, brother of the Penguins' Jordan Staal, set up two goals. Jordan Staal also had an assist.

But as secure as that 3-0 lead must have looked to Rangers fans with Vezina Trophy finalist Lundqvist in net, the Penguins have the speed and the skill to get back in a game in a hurry. And they did.

"We don't want to behind like that, but we didn't quit and got some bounces and stayed with it," Crosby said. "A lot of goals went off guys. It was one of those weird games where pucks were bouncing everywhere."

Ruutu scored 8:13 into the second to give the white-wearing Penguins crowd its first bit of life since an early surge in which the Penguins had the first eight shots. It became a game again only 14 seconds later when Crosby stole the puck from Christian Backman and set up Dupuis for a one-timer from the left circle.

Hossa tied it early in the third on a goal that may have deflected off Gomez's skate, and Sykora got his fourth of the playoffs only 20 seconds later on a 3-on-2 break with Malkin and Ryan Malone.


Notes
The Penguins are 3-0 in playoff series against the Rangers, winning in 1989, 1992 and 1996. ... Pittsburgh won the first game in each of those series. ... Lundqvist is 12-7-3 against Pittsburgh in his career.

"Alexander The Great" Helps Caps Force Game Seven

By The Associated Press

Alex Ovechkin was stifled, shut down and almost silent in his first NHL playoff series.
The league's leading scorer played like an MVP right on time in Game 6.


Ovechkin truly was "Alexander the Great" with the Washington Capitals' season on the line and put them in prime position to win a Game 7 for only the second time in franchise history.

Held without a goal for four straight games, Ovechkin scored twice in the third period to lift the Capitals to a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night and send the series back to Washington for a decisive Game 7.

"The stars, it seems to happen around them, whether it's John Elway and 'The Drive' or great baseball players getting the last at-bat," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau. "He was getting frustrated because they did such a good job on him, but he persevered and came through."

The Capitals have rallied back from a 3-1 hole and have a chance to win only the second Game 7 in team history Tuesday night. The other one should be painfully familiar to the Flyers faithful: Dale Hunter scored an overtime goal that led Washington past Philadelphia 20 years ago this month.

"We've won nothing and we know how resilient they are," Boudreau said.

The Caps have a shot to advance on home ice thanks to Ovechkin's timely, clutch goals. They are trying to become the 21st team in league history to come back from a 3-1 deficit and win a best-of-seven series.

Ovechkin never seemed overly concerned that he hadn't scored a goal since the Game 1 winner. The Flyers had frustrated the NHL's leading scorer so much with sticky defense that he wasn't much of a factor the last four games.

"It doesn't matter if I score," Ovechkin said. "If we win, I'm happy."

Ovechkin made the Capitals downright delirious.

After the Caps erased a 2-0 deficit late in the second period, Ovechkin made the Flyers pay early in the third.

Viktor Kozlov picked off a pass deep in the Washington zone and fed Ovechkin at center ice. He took the pass and skated untouched before he beat Martin Biron for the breakaway goal and a 3-2 lead 2:46 into the third period.

"All year I didn't have a chance to score on a breakaway," Ovechkin said. "I probably had one goal on a breakaway, I did what I always do and thank God it worked."

Ovechkin was just heating up. He ripped a one-timer on a cross-ice pass from Brooks Laich eight minutes later to give Washington a two-goal lead.

"It's Hollywood here and the script said he wins the game," said Caps owner Ted Leonsis.

All those Flyers fans who had taunted Ovechkin for three games suddenly fell silent. The only noise heard at the end were the Capitals banging their sticks on the boards in celebration.

"There is still another chance," said Flyers center Danny Briere. "We have to forget what happened and leave it all on the ice over there. We know we can win there, we did it earlier in the series. That is all we have to think about.

The Caps will play Pittsburgh with a series win. The Flyers would get Montreal.

The Flyers won Game 2 at Washington behind Biron's shutout.

The Flyers have lost two career playoff series after leading 3-1. They are 1-3 in Game 7s on the road, with their only win coming at Pittsburgh in a second-round series in 1989

"We just got away from our game," said Flyers center Mike Richards. "Now, tomorrow night's desperation time."

Not even the rowdy home crowd helped the Flyers. The sold-out crowd was dressed in their matching orange T-shirts and they only grew louder as goals from Briere and Richards put the Flyers up 2-0 in the second.

The Capitals, who rallied from a two-goal hole in Game 1 to win on Ovechkin's game winner, pulled through again.

Nicklas Backstrom pulled the Caps within one with this third goal of the series midway through the second.

Alexander Semin's third goal of the series with 1:57 left tied the score at 2. Biron was sprawled in the crease after he made a sensational save to stop John Erskine's shot, leaving Semin with a clear look for the easy goal.

Biron, who made 36 saves, is an abysmal 0-5 in the second of back-to-back games this season.

"They played with desperation and were throwing everything at the net," Biron said. "They skated hard and we got a little casual and I think that hurt us."

Cristobal Huet made 33 saves for Washington, settling in to have a good night after a tough start.

The Flyers best look against him in the third came when Braydon Coburn banged one off the post barely 30 seconds into the third.

The Flyers were cruising when Briere scored his NHL-best sixth playoff goal for a 2-0 lead only 1:18 into the second. The goal made the Flyers 2-for-2 on the power play - Richards scored one 3:49 into the game - after they entered 6-for-26.

Richards' goal was a positive sign that it could be the Flyers night: The team that scored first was 5-0 in the series.

Now make it 5-1.


Notes
Flyers D Jaroslav Modry was scratched. ... Richards has a point his last four games. ... Semin has a four-game scoring streak.

Casey Price Suts Out Bruins In Game Seven

By The Associated Press

Carey Price put a couple of tough losses behind him to save the Montreal Canadiens' playoff run and dash the Boston Bruins' hopes of an improbable comeback.
Price got his second shutout and Andrei Kostitsyn scored twice to lead Montreal to a 5-0 win over Boston on Monday night in the deciding game of their first-round playoff series.


The 20-year-old rookie stopped 25 shots overall, including 11 shots in the opening period. Price had allowed 10 goals overall in a pair of Canadiens losses after he got his first playoff shutout in a 1-0 win in Game 4.

"It was a rough couple of games and we knew it just wasn't going our way," Price said. "I knew it was going to turn around eventually, and tonight it did."

Mike Komisarek opened the scoring 3:31 in amid one of the first of countless roars from the raucous Bell Centre crowd over the course of the evening.

The Canadiens took control of the game in the second, outshooting the Bruins 17-6 while building a three-goal lead on a superb goal by Mark Streit midway through the period and Kostitsyn's second goal of the series at 15:13.

Kostitsyn punctuated the win with his second of the game, a power-play goal with 2:02 remaining in the third. Sergei Kostitsyn scored with 7.3 seconds remaining.

Top-seeded Montreal will face Philadelphia in the second round, if the Flyers win their Eastern Conference quarterfinal against Washington. Otherwise, the Canadiens will face the New York Rangers.

Tim Thomas stopped 30 shots for Boston, which fell short in its bid to overcome both 2-0 and 3-1 series deficits for the first time in team history.

"The character of this team can't be overemphasized, I don't think, for what we battled through all year and even in this seven-game series," Thomas said.

Bruins coach Claude Julien was behind the Canadiens' bench in 2004 when Montreal won three straight to overcome a 3-1 deficit in a first-round win over Boston.

"You've got to give them credit," said Alex Kovalev, who assisted on the Canadiens' first two goals. "They battled back and even down 3-1 and coming back to our building they were able to regroup and get a couple of wins, but the mistakes we made, we didn't compete like we did today. If we had played the way we played tonight I think we could have done it earlier."

Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau moved Kovalev to a line with Saku Koivu and Chris Higgins.

The move allowed rookie Sergei Kostitsyn to play on another line alongside his brother, Andrei, and center Tomas Plekanec as Carbonneau spread out the Canadiens' offense.

"We were trying to give some space to them, to be able to move around and control the puck," Kovalev said.

Komisarek got credit for his first career playoff goal as his point shot struck Bruins center Petteri Nokelainen's stick, causing a deflection that left Thomas no chance to recover and stop.

Streit made it a 2-0 lead 10:45 into the second as he slipped past Bruins captain Zdeno Chara to finish off a sensational passing play. Kovalev passed the puck back to Komisarek in the Canadiens' zone and waited on the right boards at center ice for the return pass.

The high-scoring Russian fed a cross ice pass to Maxim Lapierre as the Canadiens center entered the Bruins zone, and Lapierre dished off to Streit, who pushed the puck past Chara before driving the net to put a backhand between Thomas' pads for his first playoff goal.

"My mouth was wide open seeing that goal," Komisarek said. "The patience and poise that he had with the puck, and to bury it was pretty special."

Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn combined to increase the lead to three as Andrei beat Thomas at 15:13 for his second of the series, and first since Game 1.


Notes
Veteran Boston RW Glen Murray fell awkwardly into the boards after he was checked by Roman Hamrlik in the first period. A Bruins team spokesman said prior to the second period that Murray suffered a mid-torso injury and that he would not return to the game. ... Carbonneau used the same lineup as he did in Game 6. ... Montreal has never lost a series after leading 3-1.