San Jose 3, Nashville 2
Persistence pays off, even when the zebras keep telling you “No goal!” Officials reviewed two potential goals for the San Jose Sharks only to rule no goal, including one that bounced off the left post. But, Patrick Marleau scored his second goal with 4:21 left, and the Sharks grabbed a berth in their third straight Western Conference semifinals, beating the Nashville Predators, 3-2 Friday night Marleau tied the game with a power-play goal late in the second period, and Ryan Clowe also scored as the Sharks closed out Nashville with a Game 5 win on the Predators’ home ice for a second straight year.
Jason Arnott scored a power-play goal, and Vernon Fiddler also had a goal as Nashville blew a 2-1 lead in a penalty-filled second period. The Predators totaled 19 of 29 penalty minutes, including a 5-minute major during which Marleau tied the game.
Staying out of the penalty box was the Predators’ problem in this series, robbing Peter Forsberg, Paul Kariya and Arnott of ice time as they killed off repeated penalties. It happened again in the second period, where the Sharks kept their poise and had five power plays, including 38 seconds of a 5-on-3.
The Sharks dominated as they outshot Nashville, kept the puck in front of goalie Tomas Vokoun most of the time and broke up passes to frustrate the Predators’ offense.
Buffalo 4, NY Islanders 3
In hockey, your lucky if you’re good, and good if you’re lucky. Ryan Miller’s blind glove save in the final seconds was enough — barely — to lift the Buffalo Sabres past the New York Islanders and into the Eastern Conference semifinals. Miller stopped 30 shots overall, his best coming on Miroslav Satan with 12 seconds left. Satan cut across the crease and had Miller beat before the goalie spun around and stuck out his glove hand, getting enough of Satan’s shot to turn it aside. After giving up three third-period goals, Miller stopped the final nine shots he faced in Buffalo’s 4-3, series-ending victory Friday night.
The Islanders outshot the Sabres 9-8 in the opening period, but the Sabres emerged with a 1-0 lead as Derek Roy scored . The Islanders came out with some spunk, taking the early play to the Sabres. They had the only two power play chances of the period, but failed to capitalize.
But the second was all Buffalo as the Sabres built their lead to 3-0. The Sabres outshot the Islanders 14-6, beating the Islanders to the puck on just about every play. Drew Stafford and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo, which lacked consistency and at times looked little like the top-seeded team that led the NHL with 53 wins and 308 goals.
The Islanders had a much better third period, but it was too little too late. Satan and Chris Campoli each had a goal and assist and Trent Hunter also scored for the Islanders. Maxim Afinogenov scored the decisive goal as the Sabres hung on to win their third straight and eliminate the Islanders in five games.
The NHL hit Sean Hill, a 6-foot, 211-pound defenseman for the Islanders, with a 20-game suspension earlier in the day for violating the league’s drug policy. Hill has played for seven teams during 13 seasons in the N.H.L. and recorded 60 goals and 229 assists in 841 games. During the 2006-7 season, he had a goal and 24 assists in 81 games.
New Jersey 3, Tampa Bay 0
It took a few games, but the Brody everyone was expecting to rule this playoff run is finally here! Martin Brodeur shook off a couple of shaky games to post his 22nd career shutout and got goals by Andy Greene, Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez in a 3-0 victory on Friday night. Brodeur is one shutout away from putting his name next to Patrick Roy’s. More importantly, Brodeur’s vintage 31-save performance has the New Jersey Devils a game away from putting Vincent Lecavalier and the Tampa Bay Lightning out of the playoffs. “He’s the best that ever played the game,” Devils captain Patrik Elias said. “He made some unbelievable saves early and I said: ‘This is it, he’s on top. He’s back tonight and we’re going to get it done.” The Lightning didn’t make it easy. They outshot New Jersey 31-14 and had at least eight good scoring chances, and a couple of others taken away by some of the 20 shots the Devils blocked. 
The win gave the Devils a 3-2 lead in the entertaining first-round Eastern Conference series. Game 6 is Sunday afternoon in Tampa, Fla. A seventh game, if necessary, would be played in New Jersey on Tuesday night.
“What else can you say about our team,” Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle said. “If you lose, that’s the way you want to lose. We played hard, and a lot of people are probably counting us out. We play better that way. We’re looking forward to getting back on the ice.” “We dominated them and can’t get a win,” Lightning center Jason Ward said. “That’s Marty doing his thing. Hopefully, he won’t do that any more.”
After letting in some easy goals in the first four games, Brodeur looked like the goaltender who set a single-season record with 48 wins this season. He was sharp, in position and impregnable in posting his 22nd career playoff shutout.
The win was the 92nd of his playoff career, tying him for No. 2 with Grant Fuhr. Roy is first with 151.
The game ended with two fights and Devils assistant coach John MacLean and Lightning coach John Tortorella screaming at each other from behind their respective benches.
