Game o' the Day

R.I.P. CAT
By Michael Dell, editor-in-chief

(Note: This here article is an example of the fine reporting that appears daily on the LCS America Online area... um, well, go visit it anyway. Keyword: LCS)
Ding dong the Cats are dead. Esa Tikkanen did away with all of Florida's nine lives, scoring at 12:08 of overtime to lift the Rangers to a 3-2 Game Five victory and eliminate the Panthers from the playoffs, four games to one. More importantly, Tikkanen's second overtime goal of the series spared the hockey world of another annoying Stanley Cup run by the Panthers. C'mon, really, let's be honest... that whole deal last year was lame.
Mark Messier was the man for New York. Mess rose to the occasion yet again and proved why he may be the best big-game player in the NHL, scoring twice and assisting on the game-winner.
The winning play was started by Brian Leetch in his own zone. Leetch was all sly and banked a pass off the boards to Messier in the neutral zone. Messier tried to cut to the inside on the great Robert Svehla as he entered the Panther zone on left wing. Svehla stayed with him, so Messier quickly turned back to the outside before sliding a pass across ice to Tikkanen coming late. Tikkanen faked Terry Carkner to his knees and cut to the left, looking to fire a wrist shot back to the right post. Svehla tried to cover up for his partner by reaching in to block Tikkanen's shot, but the puck struck his stick and fluttered over John Vanbiesbrouck's left arm and into the net. Aw, that's too bad...
Florida actually outplayed New York for most of the game. The Panthers forechecked hard and did a nice job of taking away the boards, causing the Rangers to struggle in their own zone. The Blueshirts were so intent on just getting the puck out anyway they could, that generating offense on the breakout was of secondary concern.
Even though the Panthers were having the better of the play, the Rangers just kept hanging around. In fact, it was the Rangers that led for most of the game.
Messier put the Rangers up 1-0 just 39 seconds into the contest. New York's captain slipped behind the defense, accepted a swell lead pass from Tikkanen, and beat Vanbiesbrouck on a breakaway, backhand five-hole. Messier is just lethal on breakaways. It's no secret that he loves going to the backhand, but knowing what he's going to do and stopping it are two different things. He actually fooled the Beezer a bit by getting rid of his shot so quickly. Normally he likes to hold it and go up under the bar. Either way it's always pimp smooth.
Florida got even on the scoreboard at 14:17 of the first period. Gord Murphy dumped the puck into the left wing corner for Tommy Fitzgerald. The scrappy Panther center didn't worry about the puck and allowed Alexander Karpovtsev to ride him into the boards. Jody Hull did his part by getting tangled up with Ulf Samuelsson in front. With the two defenseman occupied, that freed the puck up for Mike Hough to skate in and blast a slap shot through Hull's screen and behind Mike Richter to tie the game at 1-1.
The second period was all Florida. Only some great work by Richter, who stopped 38 shots on the night, kept the Panthers off the board. Martin Straka had the best chance, coming out of nowhere to bust wide open in the slot and test Richter high to the stickside. Richter was all good, tho', handling it easily with his blocker.
Richter's goaltending kept his club in it long enough for Messier to kick the Cats in the teeth with a late second-period goal. Ulf Samuelsson barged down the right side of the Florida zone and swept a pass to Messier just as the Ranger blueliner got dumped to the ice. Messier took command of the puck, cut from the left side across the high slot and down the right wing. Then, as only he can, Messier fired his patented one-legged wrist shot back against the grain and over Vanbiesbrouck's right shoulder to put the Rangers in front 2-1. The goal came with just 15 seconds left on the clock. LCS has said it time and time again, those late goals will kill ya... a lot like second-hand smoke. In fact, the next time you buy some of them late goals at the store, look right there on the side of the pack and you'll see a warning from the Surgeon General. It's there for a reason, folks.
Despite the hardships, the Panthers didn't fold in the third period. The Cats hung around long enough for referee Paul Devorski to hand them a power play at 12:18. Tikkanen went to the box for interference and the Panthers wasted little time in making him pay. Just 19 seconds after Tikkanen left, Ray Sheppard bagged the equalizer. Sheppard just threw the puck in front from the left wing boards and it bounced off Leetch's skate behind Richter to knot the game at 2-2.
Tikkanen may have gotten shafted my the man on the penalty, but he got his revenge. Oh yes... he got his revenge. And afterwards on the boards he scrawled "R.I.P. CAT"...

Impressive Performances

NEW YORK
Mark Messier (2-1-3): What's left to be said about Messier? He saves his best for the big games. When the Rangers need him, he's always there.
Esa Tikkanen (1-1-2): The Rangers re-acquired Tikkanen from Vancouver, knowing full well that he's a proven playoff performer. Guy's just aren't handed a reputation like that. They have to earn it. Tikkanen's a bad man.
Mike Richter (38 saves): Richter didn't really make any spectacular saves. He was just always where he should be and made the saves look easy. Plus, he's got Aunt Jemima on his helmet. Anyone who likes waffles that much is okay with us. Although sadly, the paint is starting to chip off and it looks like Richter might need to get a new paint job for next season. The future design? Two words: Mrs. Butterworth...
FLORIDA
John Vanbiesbrouck (30 saves): It's tough to blame Beezer on any of the goals. Two of them went off sticks and the other was a clean breakaway. The playoff magic from last season just finally ran out. He did, however, make a blocker save on Niklas Sundstrom in the third period that was real wizard...

Injuries

New York: Niklas Sundstrom is suffering from back spasms, but played through 'em like a champ. Because of the injury he wasn't used as much on special teams, opening up time for Mike Eastwood short-handed and Ken Gernander on the power play. Bill Berg broke his leg in the last game and is out indefinitely.
Florida: Jeff Beukeboom has kept the Florida medical staff busy. Through the first four games of the series Beukeboom had rubbed out Radek Dvorak (ribs), Bill Lindsay (ankle), and Johan Garpenlov (ribs). Only Dvorak returned for Game Five. And the others, well, they'll have all summer to heal.

Wacky Game Fact

The Florida Panthers are now 0-11-1 the past two seasons when playing without Bill Lindsay. That's odd...

Lines

New York: The Rangers go with just three lines, and only the first two are set. In Game Five the third line was mainly Mike Eastwood between Pat Flatley and Russ Courtnall, but Darren Langdon, Shane Churla, and even Ken Gernander saw some time on Eastwood's wings early in the contest.
Also, Alexander Karpovtsev didn't see the ice during the second half of the game. He didn't appear to be injured, since he sat at the end of the bench all night, but coach Colin Campbell elected to go with just five defensemen. Brian Leetch and Jeff Beukeboom stayed together and were out every other shift. Ulf Samuelsson was a fixture on the second pairing, with Doug Lidster and Bruce Driver taking turns on his right side.
OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
Graves - Messier - Tikkanen
Robitaille - Gretzky - Sundstrom
Courtnall - Eastwood - Flatley
Extras: Langdon, Churla, Gernander.
DEFENSE
Leetch - Beukeboom
Samuelsson - Karpovtsev
Driver - Lidster
POWER PLAY
Graves - Messier - Tikkanen - Driver - Leetch
Robitaille - Gretzky - Gernander - Karpovtsev - Leetch
SHORT-HANDED
Messier - Tikkanen - Leetch - Beukeboom
Graves - Eastwood - Samuelsson - Karpovtsev
Florida: The Panthers like to roll four, but because of the injuries and the potential matchups with the Rangers, who only use three lines, Florida's fourth line didn't see much action.
OFFENSE
Nemirovsky - Niedermayer - Mellanby
Hough - Fitzgerald - Hull
Lowry - Muller - Sheppard
Straka - Wells - Dvorak
DEFENSE
Carkner - Svehla
Warrener - Murphy
Jovanovski - Laus
POWER PLAY
Nemirovsky - Niedermayer - Mellanby - Murphy - Svehla
Lowry - Muller - Sheppard - Jovanovski - Svehla
SHORT-HANDED
Fitzgerald - Lowry - Carkner - Svehla
Hull - Hough - Warrener - Murphy

Other Friday Scores

Ottawa won at Buffalo, 4-1: Daniel Alfredsson once again led the way for the Senators, scoring two more goals in their 4-1 win. The Senators will now go home to Ottawa for Game Six to try and wrap up the series, leading three games to two. Alfredsson has five goals in the series, tying him for the playoff lead with Keith Tkachuk and Teemu Selanne. There was some zany hockey publication that just ran a feature claiming Alfredsson was a bad man. What was the name of that publication? Hmm ha... just can't think of it... oh, wait, it was LCS... that's right. We're smart like that.
Randy Cunneyworth and Shawn McEachern had the other Ottawa goals and Ronnie Tugnutt stopped 24 of 25 shots. Steve Shields took the loss in net for Buffalo, making 26 saves, and Donald Audette had the lone Sabre score.
St. Louis lost at Detroit, 5-2: The Red Wings took a 3-2 series lead behind goals from Steve Yzerman (2), Brendan Shanahan (2), Larry Murphy (2), Slava Kozlov, and Darren McCarty. The Big Daddy Mac and Jim Campbell had the St. Louis goals.
Edmonton won at Dallas, 1-0 2OT: Ryan Smyth shocked the world by scoring 22 seconds into the second overtime period to break a scoreless tie and give the Oil a 3-2 series lead heading back to Edmonton for Game Six. It was Smyth's third goal of the playoffs. Curtis Joseph was the real story of this one, keeping the Stars off the scoresheet even though they outshot the Oil 35-14 in regulation. CuJo ended the night with 43 saves to record his third career postseason shutout.