Anaheim 3, Vancouver 2
Special plays are an important part of hockey, and become increasingly so in the playoffs. Scoring on the power play and killing penalties can provide not only a goal swing, but also an emotional one too. 
Penalty killing kept the Anaheim Ducks in the game on Sunday night. The power play won it for them. Nine minor penalties were assessed against them, four of which came in a first period that might have buried a lesser team. But when called upon to kill off those penalties, the Ducks answered the bell every time but one. Corey Perry scored the go-ahead goal on a power play 7:51 into the third period as the Ducks recovered from a double-overtime loss at home in Game 2 with a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Perry’s goal, on a screened slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle, came 70 seconds after the Ducks killed off his holding penalty, and less than five minutes after the Canucks failed to score on their second lengthy 5-on-3 of the game.
The Ducks managed to enter the first intermission with a 1-1 tie. “It’s important to stay calm,” Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. “We’ve faced this kind of situation before in the season where the other team might have dominated the first period. We have a lot of experience in this dressing room. There’s no need to panic.” 
“We had to weather the storm on the penalty kill and we took a few too many tonight,” said Perry, who intercepted a clearing attempt by Roberto Luongo along the boards and quickly shot the puck over to set up Dustin Penner’s goal 3:08 into the first period. Francois Beauchemin also scored, and Giguere made 24 saves, including three in the final seconds, as the Ducks took a 2-1 series lead.
Special teams made the difference as the Ducks killed off seven of eight power plays and converted two of their five chances at the other end. “We had a pretty good power play all year,” Perry said. “It’s a big key to our game and a big key to our team, we feed off the momentum from our power play.”
For the Canucks, the power play was a momentum killer. Just 3-for-50 in the playoffs coming into the game, Markus Naslund scored with the man advantage late in the first period. But Vancouver managed just two shots during a two-man advantage for 1:22 early in the third period, and failed to get a shot on Perry’s penalty just before the winning goal. “That was a key moment of the game, too and we needed to get a goal there,” Naslund said. “We have to have better shots, hit the net and be strong on rebounds.”
Special team play may be the main reason Anaheim won this game, but if this trend keeps up, it will be the reason Vancouver loses the series.
NY Rangers 2, Buffalo 1, 2OT
The New York Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr wanted to do it all, get more involved, and be aggressive. He was, and it showed as his Rangers scored an overtime goal to beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 Sunday, to close to within one game in this playoff series. 
Jagr notched his third of the playoffs when he cleaned up a loose puck in the crease 33 seconds into the middle period. Jagr sent a shot from the left circle that Miller stopped. Martin Straka got to the rebound and nudged it back, squeezing the puck between the goalie’s pads and causing it to glide toward the goal line. Jagr slammed it the rest of the way into the net for his 70th career postseason goal, second to Colorado’s Joe Sakic (82) among active players. That was Jagr’s only chance to celebrate as he made three trips to the penalty box during the first two periods.
On another play started by Jagr, Marcel Hossa took a pass from the Rangers captain and quickly slid it across the crease to the charging Karel Rachunek. He steered the puck into the open right side but did it with his skate as the pass came to him with his stick blade trailing behind. A video review ensued and the goal was waved off, the fourth time in this year’s playoffs that replay worked in the Sabres’ favor on a questionable score.
The Sabres tied it on their seventh power play of the game, and fifth consecutive after the first period, Daniel Briere stepped into a shot from the middle of the left circle and drove it past Henrik Lundqvist with 7:46 left in regulation as Brendan Shanahan served a questionable cross-checking penalty. Shanahan was sent off 1:13 earlier after he knocked down Ales Kotalik with a shove in front of the New York bench, drawing vociferous complaints from the veteran forward and coach Tom Renney. The game was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation. After that, it was a goaltending duel between Henrik Lundqvist and Sabres counterpart Ryan Miller. Lundqvist stopped 38 shots and became a winner when Rozsival beat Miller with the Rangers’ 46th shot.
Each team had chances in the lengthy overtime. New York had three power plays, and Buffalo had two after going 1-for-7 in regulation. Buffalo almost won it on the shift before Rozsival’s third goal of the playoffs, but Chris Drury — who has ended four postseason games in overtime — was stopped by Lundqvist on a stuff attempt. Michael Nylander gave Michal Rozsival the puck near the right point, and the defenseman let it fly, with his sore knee and all, through traffic, including Jagr in front, and past Miller who looked around after the shot already found the net.
Sometimes just being near the net is enough for Jagr to be involved.
