Game o' the Day

Flyers Make Buffalo Extinct
By Michael Dell, editor-in-chief

The Philadelphia Flyers closed out their second-round series with the Buffalo Sabres, winning Game Five by a score of 6-3 and claiming the series four games to one. Eric Lindros and Dainius Zubrus each scored twice for the Flyers, who also got goals from John LeClair and Shjon Podein. Ron Hextall was in net for Philly, stopping 21 shots to win his first appearance this postseason.
The Flyers will now advance to the Eastern Conference finals to face the New York Rangers. The Blueshirts earned their safe passage by upsetting the heavily-favored New Jersey Devils in five games, nailing El Diablo's coffin shut with a 2-1 overtime win at the Meadowlands on Sunday. It will be Philadelphia's second appearance in the Conference finals in the past three years, with the last one being a losing effort at the hands of the Devils in 1995. For their part, the Rangers will be making their first showing in the Conference finals since their Stanley Cup championship year of 1994.
Back to Philadelphia and Buffalo, Game Five featured some quality stuff. Buffalo netminder Steve Shields was up to his old tricks in the first period. Shields started off with two enormous saves on Lindros in the game's opening minutes and didn't let up from there, keeping the game a scoreless tie into the first intermission despite his club being outshot 17-9.
The second period, however, was a different story. The flood gates opened as the two teams combined for seven goals. Lindros did most of the damage, even when he wasn't scoring goals. Big number 88 tried to stuff a rebound off the backboards past Shields at the right post when he got submarined by a sliding Alexei Zhitnik. The result was Lindros falling directly onto the back of Shields, causing the goaltender to lay prone on the ice for several minutes. He eventually did make it back to his skates and continued, but he never quite looked the same.
It wasn't long after Shields collected his senses that LeClair notched the game's first goal, taking a pass from Paul Coffey on a two-on-one and backhanding a shot five-hole at 5:27. It was LeClair's fifth goal of the playoffs, but just his first of the series.
Lindros then took over, scoring two quick goals to run Philly's lead to 3-0. His first goal came at 8:32 of the period when Buffalo got caught in a bad line change. Rod Brind'Amour took advantage of the confusion to poke the puck free past Darryl Shannon in front of the Sabre bench, sending Lindros in home free against Shields. Philly's captain barged down the slot and pulled the puck to his forehand before burying a shot glove side for his fifth of the playoffs.
Just 41 seconds later Lindros found himself on another breakaway. Hextall had rifled a clearing attempt around the boards that skipped off the wall and became a perfect lead pass. Shields started out of his net to try and beat Lindros to the puck. Bad decision. Shields lost the gamble and his balance, falling down in the high slot. Lindros easily cut around him and would have had an empty-net goal if it weren't for the efforts of Darryl Shannon, who tackled the Flyer center before he could get off a shot. Lindros was rightfully given a penalty shot. Aw, yeahhhhhh...
Penalty shots are pretty. Penalty shots are good. Lindros came with a lot of speed, almost too much, actually losing the puck for a moment as he crossed the Buffalo stripe. He kept his cool, tho', corralled the puck and freaked Shields backhand five-hole to put the Flyers in total command. Or at least so it seemed.
The Sabres didn't win the Northeast Division by quitting. Michal Grosek answered Lindros' goals with one of his own only 54 seconds later to make the score 3-1. Derek Plante had ripped a wrist shot from the slot just wide of the left wing post, but Grosek was there to flip the rebound into the twine for his third of the playoffs.
The goal seemed to spark the Sabres and they began to take the play to the Flyers. Momentum is tricky like that. Brind'Amour helped the Buffalo cause at 13:49, taking a rather silly interference penalty against Brian Holzinger in the neutral zone to give the Sabres the power play. That's when Buffalo coach Ted Nolan got all sneaky. The Sabres challenged the stick of Flyer defenseman Janne Niinimaa and the Finn rookie's blade was indeed too wide. The result was a two-man advantage for an entire two minutes. Buffalo had new life.
After losing a perfectly good goal by Donald Audette because of another punk-ass NHL rule about the cage not being in "proper position" (I'd go into it more but it's too damn frustrating), the Sabres did cut the lead to 3-2 when Randy Burridge redirected a Garry Galley point shot between Hextall's pads at 14:19. The crowd at Marine Midland Arena was alive and well. The Sabres also still had over a minute left on the power play. A comeback was in the cards.
But as mentioned earlier, that momentum thing is tricky. It started to change when Holzinger interfered with Brind'Amour as he was trying to step around the Buffalo pointman to chase down a loose puck, wasting the final minute of the power play. Lost in the chorus of boos that greeted referee Bill McCreary's raised arm was the fact that Trent Klatt actually did track down that loose puck and had a clear short-handed breakaway only to have his five-hole bid stoned by Shields. Klatt may not have scored, but his hustle earned the Flyers a faceoff in the left wing circle of the Buffalo zone. That's very important. Because it was off the ensuing faceoff win by Brind'Amour that Dainius Zubrus deflected an Eric Desjardins point shot past Shields to give Philadelphia a 4-2 lead.
Normally such a dramatic reversal of fortune would be enough to break a team's spirit, but them Sabres are scrappy. With Philly's Petr Svoboda in the box for interference and time quickly running out on the second period, Buffalo just dumped the puck to the Flyer net from center ice. Hextall gloved the puck and dropped it down in order to send it back out and avoid a last second faceoff. The only problem was that his clearing attempt hit the shaft of Derek Plante's stick and bounced right to Randy Burridge in the slot. The stubby-legged, veteran winger quickly snapped a shot into the vacated net before Hextall could recover for his second goal of the game, and fifth of the playoffs. The puck crossed the line with 0.6 seconds left on the clock. Yeah, that'll suck.
Normally, those late goals will kill ya. But the Flyers dodged the bullet in the third period thanks to some clutch goaltending from Hextall and a zany goal by Shjon Podein. The Sabres came out charging at the start of the third, but couldn't get the equalizer. Plante had the best chance, taking a pass out of the corner and wristing a shot on net from the slot. Hextall was up to the task and made a real swell kick save with his right pad to preserve the Flyer lead.
Hextall's save enabled Podein to finally put the game away with his third of the postseason at 6:00. Lindros hunted down a loose puck along the right wing boards in the Buffalo end and just threw it in front where it struck Podein as he was getting dumped to the ice. The rubber biscuit ended up behind Shields and the Flyers had a 5-3 strangle hold on the contest. One they wouldn't give up. The men in orange employed the trap the rest of the way and made Buffalo's offense nonexistent. Zubrus bagged an empty- netter with 12 seconds left to make the final score 6-3.

Impressive Performances

PHILADELPHIA
Rod Brind'Amour (0-3-3): Brind'Amour has been the Flyers' best player this postseason, and Game Five was just another example why. He was a force all game long with his tireless work, dominance on faceoffs, and crafty passing. He finished the game with three assists and the respect of all that saw him play.
Eric Lindros (2-1-3): Great players score great goals. Lindros did just that in the second period, blowing open a close game with two displays of talent. And both his goals came on one-on-one chances with the goaltender. A team needs its best player to come through in those situations. Lindros did.
Ron Hextall (21 saves): Hextall isn't great, but he played a pretty good game. The pad save on Plante early in the third was real wizard.
BUFFALO
Randy Burridge (2-0-2): Good ol' "Nubby" did his best to keep the Sabres in the game. His goal at the end of the second period was clutch.
Steve Shields (34 saves): Shields got used on three breakaways, but he still made his share of big saves. If it wasn't for him this game would have been over in the first period. He had a marvelous series.

Garth Snow Dork Update

Garth Snow didn't play... but yeah, he's still a big dork.

Wacky Game Fact

Eric Lindros' penalty shot goal was the first successful penalty shot in the playoffs since Jaromir Jagr beat New York's John Vanbiesbrouck in 1992.

Injuries

Philadelphia: Joel Otto left in the first period with a broken nose and did not return. Apparently the trainers were having trouble getting the bleeding to stop. That's odd... that's the exact same reason why LCS' last anniversary party was stopped.
Buffalo: Jason Dawe missed the contest because of bruised ribs.

Lines

Philadelphia: The Flyer lines were all loopy after Otto left with his busted nose, but here's how they looked to start the game. In Otto's absence, Hawerchuk switched to center, Brind'Amour moved up to the top line, and Lindros played the pivot for the checking unit with Podein and Klatt.
OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
LeClair - Lindros - Renberg
Hawerchuk - Brind'Amour - Falloon
Podein - Otto - Klatt
Kordic - Lacroix - Zubrus
DEFENSE
Therien - Desjardins
Svoboda - Niinimaa
Coffey - Dykhuis
POWER PLAY
LeClair - Lindros - Hawerchuk - Coffey - Niinimaa
Renberg - Brind'Amour - Falloon - Desjardins - Dykhuis
note: Dainius Zubrus saw time working on both power-play units, replacing either Hawerchuk or Renberg on occasion.
SHORT-HANDED
Otto - Podein - Therien - Desjardins
Brind'Amour - Klatt - Svoboda - Dykhuis
Buffalo: Coach Ted Nolan used Ed Ronan between Rob Ray and Brad May on occasion, and he also used him on the right side with Mike Peca and Dixon Ward.
OFFENSE
Ward - Peca - Satan
Grosek - Plante - Barnaby
Audette - Holzinger - Burridge
May - Ronan - Ray
DEFENSE
Zhitnik - Smehlik
Boughner - Galley
McKee - Shannon
POWER PLAY
Audette - Holzinger - Burridge - Peca - Galley
Barnaby - Plante - Satan - Zhitnik - Smehlik
SHORT-HANDED
Peca - Ward - Zhitnik - Smehlik
Holzinger - Plante - Galley - Shannon

Other Sunday Scores

New York won at New Jersey, 2-1 in overtime: Adam Graves sent the Devils to off-season hell, scoring 14:08 into overtime to give the Rangers the series-clinching 2-1 victory. It was just Graves' second goal of the playoffs, but he makes 'em count.
Esa Tikkanen (7) staked the Rangers to a 1-0 lead in the first period, taking a beautiful lead pass from Wayne Gretzky and beating Martin Brodeur on a breakaway with a quick snap shot top shelf. The goal was absolutely incredible. It's hard to imagine a better shot having ever been taken in the history of man. Tikkanen just drained the puck, sending it in and out before Brodeur could even flinch. Brian Rolston (4) tied the game in the second period with a power-play goal from the right point.
The reason the Rangers were able to knock off the Devils can be summed up in two words: Mike Richter. The New York netminder was again pimp smooth, stopping 46 of 47 shots. Brodeur made 29 saves in the losing effort.
Edmonton lost at Colorado, 4-3: The Avalanche advanced into the Western Conference finals to meet the Detroit Red Wings for the second consecutive year with an exciting 4-3 win over Edmonton to take their series with the Oil four games to one. Adam Deadmarsh scored his second goal of the game, and third of the playoffs, with just 1:08 left in regulation to lift the Avalanche to victory. Joe Sakic (4) and Claude Lemieux (10) had the other Colorado goals, with Todd Marchant (4), Jason Arnott (3), and Andrei Kovalenko (4) doing the honors for Edmonton. Lemieux leads the postseason with 10 goals and has scored at least one in his last seven games.
For more information on all three games, and a look at the third-round matchups, check out issue 71 of LCS: Guide to Hockey, due out Tuesday night, May 13.

Other NHL News

The NHL Draft Lottery was held on Sunday and there were no changes in the existing order. So what's the point of the lottery again? Anyway, in case you missed it, here's the order for the first 10 picks of the 1997 Entry Draft, which will be held on June 21 in Pittsburgh.
1. Boston Bruins
2. San Jose Sharks
3. Los Angeles Kings
4. New York Islanders (from Toronto)
5. New York Islanders
6. Calgary Flames
7. Tampa Bay Lightning
8. Boston Bruins (from Hartford)
9. Washington Capitals
10. Vancouver Canucks