Calgary 3, Detroit 2
Momentum can swing like a pendulum in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And if the Calgary Flames can carry the momentum they’ve built at home into tomorrow’s Game 5 match against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena, there’s a chance they could clinch the best-of-seven series at the Saddledome Sunday in Game 6. Daymond Langkow scored twice, including the winner in the second period, as the Flames won 3-2 on Thursday night. Craig Conroy also scored for Calgary and captain Jarome Iginla assisted on both of Langkow’s goals before a sellout crowd of 19,289. Calgary netminder Miikka Kiprusoff had to make tougher saves than Detroit’s Dominik Hasek and stopped 33 of 35 shots. Calgary was outshot 13-5 in the second period, but Kiprusoff held firm. “Tremendous again,” Langkow said of his goaltender. “All four games he’s been unbelievable for us.” Hasek turned away 18 of 21 shots.
Hasek looked shaky beyond his usual unorthodox style and gave the Sea of Red a case of deja vu in the first period when he flopped to the ice trying to draw a penalty with Jarome Iginla setting up shop at the top of the crease. The oddball Czech did the same late in the regular-season during a Flames victory at the ‘Dome and was still on the ice when Kristian Huselius scored the winning goal in that tilt. This time, the goal came during his unsportsmanlike diving penalty served by Henrik Zetterberg. The Flames took advantage of Hasek’s dramatics with a powerplay goal one second after Mathieu Schneider finished serving his crosschecking penalty while 5-on-4.
Dallas 1, Vancouver 0, OT
It wasn’t Eighties Flashback Night in Vancouver last night. Marty Turco didn’t go so far as to cue the Bonnie Tyler music, but he might as well have. “I asked for a hero before we went out on the ice,” Turco said. “On my way out, when we were going on the ice, I said, ‘We need one, and, certainly, I do’.” And Turco’s close friend Brenden Morrow delivered, scoring on a power play deflection at the 6:22 mark of overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 1-0 win in Game 5 and close their deficit in the best-of-7 series to 3 games to 2 against the Canucks.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a playoff hero in the locker room with me,” said Turco, who had lost six straight in overtime since the first round of 2004. “I was kind of sad. I didn’t really see it go in. You kind of want to see it go in. I just saw it in the air, so I was double-checking with the ref.” Sure enough, the referee was pointing into the net to signal a goal after Morrow cruised through the slot and deflected Sergei Zubov’s point shot off Roberto Luongo, then up and over the goaltender and into the net.
“Marty has been unbelievable,” Morrow said of Turco, whose overtime losing streak included two in this series alone, starting with a four-overtime, 51-save marathon in Game 1. “He’s given us a chance to win and he’s just sitting back there waiting for someone to step up, and we earned our break tonight.”
They had to against Roberto Luongo, who kept the Canucks alive early in overtime with a big glove stop on Mattias Norstrom’s shot from the slot 1:46 in, and a shoulder save on Jeff Halpern from the same range
The Stars came agonizingly close to scoring on their own goal on a delayed penalty against the Canucks 1:37 into the third period. With Turco already off for an extra attacker, Loui Eriksson’s pass back to the point missed his teammate and banked toward the empty Dallas net, deflecting off the outside of the post.
“It looked center cut to me sitting on the bench,” said Turco. “You just have to close your eyes and pray.” “From where we were, it looked like it was going in,” Morrow said. “It looked like it was in slow motion. We were dying” “I was standing right behind Marty at the time, and I watched it the whole way,” Philippe Boucher said. “When it didn’t go in, I looked at him and told him ‘That’s the sign. That’s the sign that things are changing.’ “
Anaheim 4, Minnesota 1
Even though they had to store their “sweep” brooms away in a closet against the Minnesota Wild, the Ducks took care of their Western Conference quarterfinal series in short order with a 4-1 victory in Game 5 on Thursday night. The Anaheim Ducks’ Chris Pronger scored just 1:02 into the game, and Marian Gaborik tied it briefly with a short-handed goal at 15:42 of the second period. But Getzlaf scored less than a minute later. Ryan Getzlaf scored the go-ahead goal on a power play late in the second period, Corey Perry added his first career playoff goal with 9:31 remaining, and Travis Moen capped the scoring with 57 seconds left. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, getting his first start in eight games, made 26 saves for Anaheim. Anaheim’s leading scorer, Teemu Selanne joked after the game that he looked like “Rocky.” He was struck with a puck that opened a gash above his right eye during the pregame warmups, and got hit in the face with a stick that opened another cut above his left eye during the game. His brow was swollen and stitched on both sides.
The Ducks got off 38 shots at Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom. “I feel really empty,” said Backstrom, a 29-year-old rookie from Finland who was the NHL’s stingiest goalie during the regular season. “I’ve been really working for this, and it’s over too soon.” Backstrom got an assist on Gaborik’s goal. The Wild went 0-for-5 on power plays, including the two-man advantage for the two-minute span of Game 5, and finished the series 2-of-27 on power plays.
Animosity between the teams had flared late in the Wild’s 4-1 win at Minnesota on Tuesday night. The teams had a brief pushing match during warmups, with no officials on the ice. Each team’s enforcer, the Wild’s Derek Boogaard and the Ducks’ George Parros, exchanged words, then players from both sides crowded to center ice. There was some yelling and pushing, but no punches thrown. The players eventually backed off.
Ottawa 3, Pittsburgh 0
What they expected wasn’t what they got. What others expected wasn’t what happened this year. “We exceeded all expectations, which is probably pretty good,” Ryan Whitney of the Pens said. “But, at the same time, we had our own expectations of going far into the playoffs, playing until June.” Ray Emery made 20 saves for his first playoff shutout, leading the Ottawa Senators to a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night to win their first-round series in five games. “They really did play great,” Penguins right-winger Colby Armstrong said. “They’ve got a lot of skill, a lot of grit. They’re playing good hockey, and obviously made it real tough on us.”
Last night, Ottawa tried to honor its legacy of playoff meltdowns by taking three utterly pointless penalties — a tripping minor on Wade Redden 60 seconds after the opening faceoff, followed by delay-of-game infractions on Dean McAmmond (1:46) and Christoph Schubert (3:32), during the first 212 seconds of play, but the Penguins were having none of it. Despite ending up with two five-on-three power plays, one lasting 74 seconds and the other 14, they seriously threatened goalie Ray Emery only once or twice during that sequence. “It’s a game of missed opportunities,” Sidney Crosby said. “And we might have missed those opportunities.” The power play, that was the fifth-most efficient in the league during the regular season, went 0 for 6 in the series finale, and was 0 for 15 in the last three games after going 4-for-13 in the first two.
Dany Heatley got the only goal the Senators needed during a power play at 1:09, beating goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the right side of the crease, and Antoine Vermette (6:20) and Chris Kelly (17:55) added the insurance Ottawa needed to lock up its spot in Round 2. Ray Emery made 20 saves for his first playoff shutout.
