Five NHL teams facing elimination Saturday
Canadian Press
4/17/2004
CALGARY (CP) - The Calgary Flames returned home Friday with a chance to do something they haven't been able to do in 14 years - win a playoff series and move onto the second round.
Along with a seven-year playoff absence that ended this year, the Flames have not won a post-season series since 1989 when they won their lone Stanley Cup title.
Calgary will get its opportunity Saturday night when it hosts the Vancouver Canucks in Game 6 of their Western Division playoff matchup.
The Flames lead the series 3-2 heading into Saturday night's game after hanging on to win 2-1 on Thursday night in Vancouver despite being outshot 12-2 in the third period.
``We don't want to go back to Vancouver,'' said Calgary captain Jarome Iginla, who scored the winning goal Thursday. ``We want to end it in Game 6, but we know it's going to be the toughest game of the series.
``Last game was the toughest to date, and with each game the intensity has grown.''
Forward Martin Gelinas, who has the most playoff experience of any Flames player with 125 games over 16 NHL seasons, said his team needs to do everything it can to avoid Game 7.
``When you have a chance to wrap it up, you've got to give it all and give your best,'' Gelinas said Friday. ``But the same time they're going to come here, they'll be a desperate team and we've got to be ready for that.''
``In a Game 7, you just never know. It could go either way.''
Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff held his team in the lead for the last 20 minutes of Thursday night's game, despite constant pressure from the Canucks.
``He has been so good all year,'' Iginla said of Kiprusoff. ``He has been making the saves that you think he should and then a lot more that he shouldn't - and timely saves.''
Assistant coach Rich Preston agreed strong goaltending was a good reason why Calgary won Game 5.
``We were sloppy in our own zone,'' said Preston. ``I think we maybe pulled back a little too much trying to protect the lead.''
But Preston said his team needs to come out Saturday night like it was do-or-die Game 7.
``We're at home, this is what we've fought so hard in the series for, to be able to do it at home,'' he said. ``So it's a one-game mission for us.
``One game.''
Vancouver has started three different goaltenders in five playoff games after starter Dan Cloutier went down with an ankle injury in the first period of the third game. Backup Johan Hedberg started Game 4, which the Canucks lost 4-0.
Vancouver coach Marc Crawford surprised most everyone Thursday night, including the Flames, by starting rookie Alex Auld - who made some key saves in the losing effort.
``I like our chances,'' said Auld, who will start again Saturday night. ``If every guy can give just a little bit more we'll be that much better.''
Canucks Captain Markus Naslund said a key will be for Vancouver to get an early lead.
``They play different when they have the lead, that's for sure,'' he said. ``The start is going to be huge for us.
``We have to be ready to battle because you know they are going to come out flying and they're going to be excited with the crowd and having a chance to finish us off.''
Last year, Vancouver faced a similar situation when it trailed the St. Louis Blues 3-1 in a first-round playoff series. The Canucks battled back to win in Game 7.
``We know that if we can jump on them and get the first goal it's going to be a different type of hockey game,'' Naslund said. ``That's going to be one of the main focuses for going into Calgary.
``We have to have a great start.''
MONTREAL (CP) - The puck is starting to go in the net for the Montreal Canadiens but they're not counting on any more gift goals from Boston Bruins rookie Andrew Raycroft.
Raycroft let in a couple of soft goals for the first time in their NHL Eastern Conference quarter-final series in a 5-1 Montreal victory to stave off elimination on Thursday night in Boston.
The Bruins have a 3-2 series lead and get another chance to knock out the Canadiens in Game 6 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
``He's been one of the top goalies in the league all year and he'll bounce back,'' Canadiens forward Yanic Perreault said Friday. ``It'll be tough to score against him.''
Raycroft would probably want another stab at Perreault's goal 5:43 into the first period that started the Montreal romp in Game 5. The favourite to win rookie of the year honours also wasn't sharp on Alex Kovalev's goal 7:39 into the second frame.
In contrast, Montreal goaltender Jose Theodore had his first dominant game of the series, making 43 saves, after fighting the puck through much of the first four games.
``They're up 3-2 but I don't know it that's because of the goaltending,'' said Canadiens enforcer Darren Langdon. ``Both teams have great goaltenders.
``I'd say Raycroft will come back with the same attitude Theo did.''
Many fans and members of the media were debating before Game 5 whether back-up Mathieu Garon should get the start, but coach Claude Julien stuck with Theodore, the hero of Montreal's playoff upset over Boston in the first round two years ago.
``Jose did the job all year for us,'' said Julien. ``We know what he can do.
``I had a feeling he'd bounce back with a big game and he did.''
Early in the series, some wondered if Raycroft was about to do to Montreal what Theodore did to Boston in 2002, steal the series almost singlehandedly.
The Bruins dominated the series opener 3-0, but were outplayed in Game 2, although they won in overtime when Theodore let in a soft one to Patrice Bergeron.
Montreal won Game 3 at home, then were beaten again when Kovalev, perhaps looking to draw a slashing penalty against Travis Green, abandoned the puck and allowed Glen Murray to score on a breakaway for a 4-3 double overtime loss.
That put Montreal in a 3-1 series hole, but Theodore's return to form in Game 5 and their new-found scoring touch has the Canadiens confident they can win Saturday night and force a decisive Game 7 on Monday night in Boston.
``I'm not going to classify that as our best game of the series,'' Julien said. ``I thought we played a better game when we lost at home in overtime.
``Our effort and our scoring chances and the way we played were better. This was just a situation where we converted on our scoring chances.''
Meanwhile, the Bruins are struggling on the power play. After scoring twice with the man advantage in the opener, they have fallen into an 0-for-18 slump.
And they must rebound from their Game 5 letdown.
``We're still ahead in this series,'' coach Mike Sullivan said on the Bruins' website Friday. ``The expectation coming in was that it would be a hard-fought series and probably a lengthy one.
``We have to be sure to keep that in perspective.''
Game 5 had a minimum of the theatrics that marked the first four games, both with Kovalev's miscue and centre Mike Ribeiro's much-criticized writhing on the ice after a minor collision in Game 3.
When Richard Zednik dropped to the ice after a cross-check to the face in Game 5, no call was made and the Boston crowd booed. Some feel the officials now consider the Canadiens habitual actors.
``There's been a lot said about certain players, starting with Mike Ribeiro,'' said Julien. ``People can say what they want but we know what's happening in our dressing room and I don't care what anybody says, Mike was injured.
``Now with the Kovalev situation, it's snowballed into a situation where maybe people think there's embellishment. We can't control that. If the referees are going to call something, they'll call it. And if they don't, they don't. We can't worry about that.''
The Canadiens have real injuries to consider.
Big winger Jason Ward, who has been pounding the Boston defence with hits, left Game 5 with a neck injury and is doubtful to play.
``I think if you see him with a neck brace on, it's kind of hard for me to call it an upper body injury,'' Julien said with a smile.
They will decide on Saturday whether forward Steve Begin is ready to return after missing two games with a knee injury. If he can't, winger Andreas Dackell could see his first playoff action.
Montreal was already without defenceman Stephane Quintal, who is out for the rest of the series with a shoulder injury.
Rookie defenceman Mike Komisarek saw his first playoff action in Game 5 and is eager to play at home, where the 21,273-seat Bell Centre was a dynamo of noise and energy in two previous games.
``They were just going crazy,'' said Komisarek, who watched the games from the press box. ``Everywhere you go in the city, everybody's talking about the team.
``There'll be a lot of energy in the building, that's for sure.''
Only a handful of Canadiens skated Friday.
DENVER (AP) - Three chances to close out a playoff series should make any team feel comfortable.
Not the Colorado Avalanche.
The way things have gone the past few years, the Avalanche have to avoid viewing their 3-1 lead over Dallas as three chances to lose the series.
``Three to one doesn't mean anything until you win four,'' Avalanche forward Steve Konowalchuk said. ``It's always the toughest game, the one to put them away.''
The Avalanche have certainly learned that.
Four times in six years, Colorado has lost a seven-game series with at least two chances to close it out. Twice the Avalanche have blown 3-1 leads with two of the final three games at home, including last year in the first round against Minnesota.
The Avalanche are just 10-16 since 1998 in games that could clinch a series, including five straight losses. That includes the 2002 Western Conference final, when Colorado led Detroit 3-2 only to lose Games 6 and 7 by a combined score of 9-0.
Game 5 against the Stars is Saturday in Denver, and the Avalanche want the series to end then.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Detroit Red Wings finally played like the star-studded team they are in taking the lead in their first-round series against Nashville. Now they face a different challenge: Winning on the road.
The Red Wings are up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series after a 4-1 victory Thursday night. A win here Saturday afternoon moves them a step closer to their fourth Stanley Cup in eight years.
But home teams have won every game in the series, and the Predators now lead the series with Detroit in Nashville 9-7-2-0.
``Now it's up to us to find a way to win a road game,'' Detroit forward Kris Draper said.
The Predators fed off a rowdy home crowd in winning Games 3 and 4 to avoid the Detroit sweep many expected. Another sellout crowd will be on hand as they try to forget their worst game this postseason.
``Obviously, it's an advantage for us,'' said goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who stopped 82 of 83 shots in Nashville. ``Possibly facing elimination, so it's all about how you respond.
``And we got to respond, or our season is over.''
VOORHEES, N.J. (AP) - The Philadelphia Flyers are tired of hearing about 2000. The New Jersey Devils hope to repeat it.
Four years ago, the Devils came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals and went on to win their second Stanley Cup. The defending champions are in the same situation going into Game 5 of their first-round series against the Flyers on Saturday.
``We know how we did it. We stuck to our system,'' Devils forward Patrik Elias said Friday. ``We've mentioned it to the guys who weren't there, maybe to give them the edge on that confidence.''
Only four players - John LeClair, Mark Recchi, Keith Primeau and Simon Gagne - remain from the Flyers team that lost three straight to the Devils in 2000. New Jersey won Games 5 and 7 in Philadelphia, just as it would have to do now to stay alive.
``This is a new team,'' Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. ``That's ancient history. We're not running scared or worrying. If we don't win this, it's because they were the better team. If we do win, it's because we were the better team.''
The Flyers' collapse four years ago was magnified by the controversy surrounding the return to the lineup by Eric Lindros, who hadn't played in more than two months because of a concussion.
Lindros had been stripped of his captaincy by general manager Bob Clarke following his critical remarks about the team's medical staff. He came back for Game 6, scoring Philadelphia's only goal in a 2-1 loss. But a hard check early in the first period of Game 7 by Devils defenceman Scott Stevens knocked Lindros out with another concussion, and the Flyers lost 2-1.
``It's a totally different team, a totally different situation,'' Recchi said. ``We had some distractions back then and we let them distract us. We don't have that now.''
The biggest difference for the Flyers this time is they have an unflappable goaltender. Robert Esche, starting his first playoff series, has been superb, outplaying Martin Brodeur, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner who has led the Devils to three championships since 1995.
Esche recorded his first playoff shutout with a spectacular 35-save performance in a 3-0 victory Wednesday night, and has allowed eight goals on 123 shots to move Philadelphia within a win of advancing to the second round for the second straight year.
Cheers,
Aquaman