Vancouver 2, Anaheim 1, 2OT
If the Anaheim Ducks’ Teemu Selanne was just a little bit luckier against the Vancouver Canucks, this easily could have been a 3-1 or even a 4-1 Ducks victory instead of a 2-1 double overtime loss. Selanne was the personification of the Ducks’ frustration. 
If Luongo didn’t rob him outright, he either chipped shots over the net or redirected tries wide of it. “It’s nice to win but you can’t win all of them,” Selanne said. “I’m not going to sleep very well. I’d like to have a couple of those chances back. But that’s hockey.”
The unflappable Roberto Luongo made some great saves, including seven off Teemu Selanne, to erase doubts of resolve to overcome adversity or a will to win. “We were in this situation quite a bit in the first round with overtimes and close games,” Luongo said. “We feel comfortable and confident in those situations that we can get the job done.”
The teams could only trade second-period goals through regulation as the Ducks’ Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Vancouver’s Luongo waged a duel in goal.
Giguere stopped 47 shots and Luongo, who hadn’t beaten the Ducks in four previous games this season, made 43 saves as he was sharp all night and occasionally outstanding.
Markus Naslund scored his first goal in eight playoff games to give the Canucks an early 1-0 lead. The captain took the puck off Chris Pronger at the blueline and snapped a wrister home while falling to the ice at 6:30. Travis Moen made it 1-1 less than six minutes later when he jammed home a Selanne rebound past a sprawling Luongo. Less than a minute later, a Perry wrister went between Luongo’s pads and hit the inside of the post and bounced out.
It remained tied and went to overtime where neither team could score. But, 7 minutes, 49 seconds into the second overtime, Vancouver forward Trevor Linden won a puck battle in the corner with the Ducks’ Rob Niedermayer and kicked it toward the slot.
Jeff Cowan threw a shot toward Giguere that squeaked between the goalie’s right skate and the left post. “I just think that I shot it real hard and real quick,” Cowan said. “Jiggy was over there but it just snuck in between or under his pads. I really don’t know how it got it in but it went in and that’s the main thing.”
“It was the first goal Giguere has ever allowed in an overtime period. His streak of not allowing an overtime goal ended at 197 minutes, 52 seconds.” I was in the right place,” Giguere said. “I’d play it the same way. It’s just the way it went. I’m not going to beat myself up about it. It’s part of the game.”
“The monkey picked us,” Luongo said of Maggie the Monkey of TSN fame, who spins a wheel to predict series winners. And Lady Luck just happened to be sitting on the Vancouver bench tonight, too.
Buffalo 3, NY Rangers 2
When playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, hard work and diligence for sixty minutes is what you need to push on to victory. If that isn’t working, allow you opponent to get a lead into the third period and let your clutch players take over. 
Not the best scenario, but that’s what the Buffalo Sabres did last night. With Chris Drury and Thomas Vanek scoring clutch goals, and goalie Ryan Miller, who stopped 31 shots, including all 11 in the final period, the Buffalo Sabres didn’t need to play an entire game to beat the New York Rangers for a second consecutive time. On Friday night, all it took was the third period.
Erasing 40 minutes of offensive frustration, Drury and Vanek scored 10 minutes apart, rallying the Sabres to a 3-2 win to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. “The timing was pretty good,” Drury said, who scored 24 seconds into the period to tie the game at 2. “Out of the break, we talked about having a good 5 minutes. We got one right away and it energized us.” Vanek then scored his second straight game winner, converting a scramble in front with 9:49 remaining.
The Rangers outshot the Sabres 33-18 overall and 22-9 through two periods. It was a considerable improvement after they allowed 37 shots in Game 1, and watched the Sabres score three times on four shots during a 4-minute span in the second period.
“We played a good game but didn’t get the result we wanted,” Rangers forward Brendan Shanahan said. “I don’t think it’s a mystery. They’re a great hockey team and you can’t ever give them life or give them a chance.”
Martin Straka and Paul Mara scored for the Rangers, who have lost two straight since sweeping Southeast Division champion Atlanta in the first round. Rangers coach Tom Renney said he doesn’t think this loss will deflate the confidence of his team. “I certainly hope not,” Renney said. “I can’t do anything more than continue to prepare our team.”
They just need to be more prepared for that twenty minutes when the Sabres decide to kick it up a notch.
