Anaheim 3, Vancouver 2, OT
You can knock these Ducks down, (ducks down, get it?), but they keep fighting back. With grit and determination the Anaheim Ducks’ Travis Moen scored 2:07 into overtime to give the Ducks a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks and a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. 
Teemu Selanne, who looks like he went ten rounds with Ali in his prime, tied the game with 5:42 left as Anaheim rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period. Still, the Anaheim Ducks sniper couldn’t stop smiling. “Upper body injury,” said Selanne, bursting into laughter despite being cut by a high stick for the third time in this series alone. “Unbelievable, but stuff happens.”
“A lot of guys were really ticked off about how we played,” Selanne said. “So it was time to step up and do 10 percent more. That’s what the coach asked us to do after the second.”
Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison staked the Canucks to a 2-0 lead, but Jean-Sebastien Giguere robbed Naslund from the slot 3:30 into the third period. Chris Pronger tied it 30 seconds later with a screened shot from the point. Pronger, who along with teammate Scott Niedermayer is a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, then set up the tying goal with another long shot. The rebound went straight to Selanne, who had an easy tap-in from the side of the net because Canucks defenseman Sami Salo had lost his stick earlier in the play.
Overtime. Again. 
But not that long this time. Only two minutes and seven seconds. That’s when Niedermayer threw a shot from the point into traffic in front of Roberto Luongo. The shot didn’t get there. But Moen found it in all those legs in front of the Vancouver net and banged it home. “Jiggy made a huge save for us there and kept us in it,” said Moen, who made up for a gaffe on the Canucks’ second goal by scoring the winner. “It was nice to get that one back,” said Moen. “We came in after the second and knew we had to have a better period to win the game, and we just went out and battled — lots of hits, lots of shots on net with lots of traffic in front.” 
It was a rough ending to an otherwise great day for Luongo, who is a finalist for the Hart Trophy as league MVP; the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender; and the Lester Pearson Award as the players’ choice for most outstanding player. “We said before we went out (for the third) to keep pushing and not sit back, but for some reason I don’t know what happens when we have a two-goal lead. But we’re not too good at preserving those leads,” said Luongo, who made 28 saves.
These games keep slipping away, like water off a ducks back.
NY Rangers 2, Buffalo 1
The playoff series is tied and so are the judgments of the four minute plus video reviews of goals. The “No goal” on Sunday, when Rangers defenseman Karel Rachunek lost a goal when league officials in Toronto used a replay to determine he kicked the puck in, was not a big deal as the Rangers eventually won. This time the call went New York’s way. In a big way. Henrik Lundqvist stopped Daniel Briere’s shot just short of fully crossing the goal line with 17 seconds left, and the Rangers hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Sabres on Tuesday night to square the Eastern Conference semifinal series after four games.
“What we’re looking for is either confirm what the call is on the ice, or we have to have a conclusive picture of the puck being in the net,” Bob Hall, the supervisor of officials for the series said in a statement. “It’s what we’re looking for in this case because the on-ice ruling was no goal. “I guess it was really close,” Briere said. “I think they misjudged the one last game. The Rangers’ goal should’ve been a goal. For the sake of all, I hope they made the right call because that wouldn’t be good, two games in a row, two critical goals disallowed.”
Game Four wouldn’t have landed in a video reviewer’s lap had the Sabres’ offense not looked as disjointed as Mike Foligno’s nose for two periods. They didn’t play with conviction until Lindy Ruff, who scratched Maxim Afinogenov, shuffled lines in the third period. At game’s end, Briere was skating with Ales Kotalik and Tim Connolly.
Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan scored power-play goals, and Lundqvist made 29 saves to get the Rangers back in the series. Before the announcement of Shanahan’s sixth goal of these playoffs and 58th in the postseason, Kotalik scored., but it wasn’t enough. Ryan Miller was sharp again in making 26 saves, allowing two goals for the fourth straight game. Kotalik’s goal was the Sabres’ second in 2 hours, 35 minutes, 36 seconds. They failed to score on all four power plays and have converted only one of 16 opportunities over the past 10 periods.
The controversial play started with Sabres goalie Ryan Miller pulled for the extra attacker, defenseman Brian Campbell sent the puck around the boards. Lundqvist strayed from the net to settle the puck, but Campbell circled through and beat defenseman Rachunek to it, zipping a short pass to Briere at the post. Briere tucked the puck inside the post, while Lundqvist desperately kicked his right leg to stop it. The red light didn’t go on. Referee Bill McCreary didn’t signal a goal.
And the review judge agreed.
