Overtime Win Carries Wings To Nhl Finals

After an absence of 29 years, the Detroit Red Wings are back in the NHL finals with a chance to win their first Stanley Cup championship in 40 years.

Vyacheslav Kozlov’s goal 2:25 into the second overtime period Sunday night gave Detroit a 2-1 victory over Chicago, eliminating the Blackhawks in the fifth game of the Western Conference finals.

“It feels unbelievable,” said Detroit goaltender Mike Vernon. “We’ve worked hard all season. The guys just stuck to the game plan and kept working away. This was the result right here.

“We advanced to the finals, that’s what we’ve dreamed of and that’s what we wanted and it’s here.”

Kozlov took a pass from Sergei Fedorov and skated past defenseman Chris Chelios. He put a good fake on Chicago goaltender Ed Belfour, who had been brilliant to that point, then blasted the puck between Belfour’s pads.

Detroit last won the championship in 1955. That 40-year drought is longest in the NHL. The second longest belongs to the Blackhawks, who last won the Cup in 1961.

It was the third overtime game of the series. Detroit won all three.

Both goaltenders were superb. Belfour turned away all but two of 47 shots; Vernon faced 26 shots.

Belfour had most of the work in the first three periods, when he made 37 saves. Vernon made almost as many saves in the first overtime as he did in regulation as the Blackhawks finally outshot the Red Wings in a period, 11-7.

Denis Savard scored a firstperiod goal for Chicago. Steve Yzerman tied it with a goal in the second period.

Belfour put on a virtuoso performance in the second period, despite giving up the goal that tied the game.

The Red Wings might have blown the game wide open had it not been for Belfour’s spectacular play. Detroit outshot Chicago 20-2 in the period, including five shots during a 1:40 span early in the period while the Red Wings had a two-man advantage.

At 8:41, Belfour scrambled to get his glove on a shot by Keith Primeau just before it crossed the goal line. But his most spectacular save came at 10:54 when Belfour, stretched out to the limit, dove through the air to his left to glove a shot by Sergei Fedorov that appeared to be going over the goal line.

Fedorov could only shake his head as Detroit had outshot the Blackhawks 16-1 in the period to that point.

Chicago 1 0 0 0 0 1 Detroit 0 1 0 0 1 2

First Period-1, Chicago, Savard 7 (Craven, Suter), 10:18 (pp).

Second Period-2, Detroit, Yzerman 3 (McCarty, Errey), 11:36.

Third Period-None.

First Overtime-None.

Second Overtime-Detroit, Kozlov 8 (Fedorov, Brown), 2:25.

Shots on goal-Chicago 5-2-7-11-1-26. Detroit 7-20-11-7-2-47. Power-play Opportunities-Chicago 1 of 2; Detroit 0 of 4. Goalies-Chicago, Belfour 9-7 (47 shots-45 saves). Detroit, Vernon 12-2 (26-25). A-19,875 (19,875).

Devils 3, Flyers 2

Philadelphia

Claude Lemieux’s 58-foot slapshot with 44.2 seconds left in the game gave New Jersey a victory over Philadelphia and a 3-2 edge in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference finals.

Lemieux came down the right wing and shot just after stepping over the Philadelphia blue line. The hard shot beat Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall low to the stick side.

Game 6 of the series will take place Tuesday night at the Meadowlands Arena.

It was Lemeiux’s 10th goal in 15 playoff games; he scored six in 45 regular season games.

The Flyers tied the game at 2 on Kevin Dineen’s second goal of the game at 3:13 of the third period.

Defenseman Dmitri Yushkevich had moved from his position at the point to control a loose puck along the boards. He pushed the puck back to Dineen, who had covered for him, and Dineen’s 55-foot slapshot beat screened Devils goalie Martin Brodeur high to the stick side.

New Jersey 2 0 1 - 3 Philadelphia 1 0 1 - 2

First period-1, New Jersey, MacLean 4 (Guerin, Niedermayer), 3:42. 2, Philadelphia, Dineen 5 (Yushkevich, Semenov), 7:28 (pp). 3, New Jersey, Carpenter 1 (McKay, Dean), 17:17 (pp).

Second period-No scoring.

Third period-4, Philadelphia, Dineen 6 (Yushkevich, Brind’Amour), 3:13. 5, New Jersey, Lemieux 10, 19:15.

Shots on goal-New Jersey 8-13-11-32. Philadelphia 4-4-10-18.Power-play opp.-New Jersey 1 of 3; Philadelphia 1 of 2.Goalies-New Jersey, Brodeur 11-4 (18 shots-16 saves). Philadelphia, Hextall 10-4 (32-29).A-17,380 (17,380).