Rangers Towel Off Quebec To Take Advantage In Series

Stanley Cup playoffs

The New York Rangers had two luckybounce goals, including Brian Leetch’s winner with 7:18 left, to beat Quebec 4-3 Wednesday in the first playoff game at New York since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup last spring.

The Rangers gave away souvenir towels to the fans, but this time they didn’t give away the game as they took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The Rangers, who lost Game 1 in Quebec after taking a 4-2 lead into the final period, lost the lead again when the Nordiques tied them at 3 on a goal by Owen Nolan at 8:00 of the third period.

But they pulled this one out before their roaring, towel-waving fans as Leetch, who had two assists, scored the game-winner when the puck bounced on the top of the net and right in front.

Quebec goaltender Stephane Fiset apparently lost sight of the puck and was late reacting, giving Leetch half a net to knock in his backhand.

The Rangers scored another lucky goal earlier when a dump pass by Pat Verbeek in the first period hit something along the right boards and took a crazy bounce in front to set up a goal for Adam Graves.

The Rangers had lucky bounces on defense as well. Goaltender Glenn Healy mishandled Craig Wolanin’s shot from the blue line with 1 minute left. The puck squirted under the Rangers goaltender, but he was able to reach behind him and stop it before it crossed the goal line.

Sergei Zubov and Sergei Nemchniov scored the Rangers’ other goals. Scott Young and Peter Forsberg also scored for Quebec, which finished 18 points ahead of New York during the season and took the season series 3-0.

Quebec 1 1 1 - 3 N.Y. Rangers 2 1 1 - 4

First period-1, Quebec, Young 2 (Ricci, Foote), 1:54. 2, New York, Graves 4 (Verbeek, Leetch), 8:50. 3, New York, Zubov 2 (Kovalev), 10:58.

Second period-4, New York, Nemchinov 3 (Nedved, Leetch), 14:19. 5, Quebec, Forsberg 1 (Nolan, Bassen), 17:14.

Third period-6, Quebec, Nolan 1 (Wolanin, Bassen), 8:00. 7, New York, Leetch 1 (Verbeek, Messier), 12:42.

Shots on goal-Quebec 5-7-8-20. New York 11-14-7-32.Power-play opp.-Quebec 0 of 2; New York 0 of 4.Goalies-Quebec, Fiset 1-2 (32 shots-28 saves). New York, Healy 2-0 (20-17).A-18,200 (18,200).

Sabres 3, Flyers 1

Buffalo, N.Y.

Buffalo scored two first-period goals and shut down Philadelphia’s offense en route to a win in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Buffalo allowed a goal 5:18 into the game before blanking Philadelphia the rest of the way to draw within 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Donald Audette and Wayne Presley scored for Buffalo in the first period after Karl Dykhuis opened the scoring for Philadelphia. Alexander Mogilny closed the scoring with an empty-net goal with a minute remaining.

Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek faced just two shots in the second period and made 18 saves for the victory. Ron Hextall stopped 30 shots and kept Philadelphia in the game over the first two periods.

Philadelphia 1 0 0 - 1 Buffalo 2 0 1 - 3

First period-1, Philadelphia, Dykhuis 2 (Renberg, Yushkevich), 5:18 (pp). 2, Buffalo, Audette 1 (Galley, Zhitnik), 12:43 (pp). 3, Buffalo, Presley 1 (Hannan), 14:13.

Second period-None.

Third period-4, Buffalo, Mogilny 1 (Muni), 19:00 (en).

Shots on goal-Philadelphia 7-2-10-19. Buffalo 9-19-5-33.Power-play opp.-Philadelphia 1 of 6; Buffalo 1 of 7.Goalies-Philadelphia, Hextall 2-1 (32 shots-30 saves). Buffalo, Hasek 1-2 (19-18).A-13,256 (16,230).

Bruins 3, Devils 2

East Rutherford, N.J.

Mats Naslund ended goalie Martin Brodeur’s bid for a record-tying third straight playoff shutout, triggering a three-goal second period by scoring on a pass off a New Jersey defenseman as Boston won Game 3 of a first-round playoff series.

New Jersey leads the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game 4 scheduled at the East Rutherford on Friday night. The visiting team has won each game so far, with Brodeur providing shutouts on Sunday and Monday in the first two games of the series at Boston Garden.

Blaine Lacher was sensational in goal for the Bruins, stopping 31 shots, including at least at dozen quality scoring chances. Mariusz Czerkawski and Cam Neely got the other goals for Boston, which was limited to 17 shots on goal.

Scott Niedermayer and Jim Dowd scored for New Jersey, with Niedermayer’s power-play goal in the third period getting the Devils to within a goal.

Boston 0 3 0 - 3 New Jersey 0 1 1 - 2

First period-None.

Second period-1, New Jersey, Dowd 1 (MacLean), 4:07. 2, Boston, Naslund 1, 9:59. 3, Boston, Czerkawski 1 (Bourque), 11:56. 4, Boston, Neely 1 (Shaw, Bourque) 18:50 (pp).

Third period-5, New Jersey, Niedermayer 1 (Broten, Richer), 4:34 (pp).

Shots on goal-Boston 5-9-3-17. New Jersey 8-16-9-33.Power-play opp.-Boston 1 of 3; New Jersey 1 of 3.Goalies-Boston, Lacher 1-2 (33 shots-31 saves). New Jersey, Brodeur 2-1 (17-14).A-16,523 (19,040).

Capitals 6, Penguins 2

Landover, Md.

Keith Jones and Calle Johansson each had two goals and rookie goalie Jim Carey stopped 23 shots to earn his first playoff victory as Washington beat Pittsburgh to take a 2-1 lead in their firstround series.

Usually conservative Washington surrendered eight goals in the first two games, but successfully executed its tightchecking style this time, particularly in the opening two periods.

Washington’s Michal Pivonka failed to convert the 29th penalty shot in Stanley Cup history, lifting the puck over the net against backup goaltender Tom Barrasso in the third period. But that was about the only thing that went wrong for the Capitals in their sixth straight home win.

The Penguins went 1 for 9 on the power play and didn’t score until the third period, after Washington already had a 5-0 lead. Ron Francis and Luc Robitaille scored for Pittsburgh, which failed to show any of the offensive firepower it did at home in the first two games.

Pittsburgh 0 0 2 - 2 Washington 1 3 2 - 6

First period-1, Washington, Johansson 1 (Hunter), 3:01.

Second period-2, Washington, Jones 2 (Gonchar, Juneau), 6:58. 3, Washington, Bondra 2 (Cote, Khristich), 9:59 (pp). 4, Washington, Jones 3 (Cote, Hunter), 14:27 (pp).

Third period-5, Washington, Juneau 1 (Konowalchuk, Jones), 1:37. 6, Pittsburgh, Francis 1 (Murphy, Sandstrom), 7:20 (pp). 7, Pittsburgh, Robitaille 3 (Mullen), 8:06. 8, Washington, Johansson 2 (Bondra, Juneau), 13:07 (pp).

Shots on goal-Pittsburgh 7-12-6-25. Washington 7-11-10-28.Power-play opp.-Pittsburgh 1 of 9; Washington 3 of 10.Goalies-Pittsburgh, Wregget 1-2 (18 shots-14 saves), Barrasso (0:00 third, 10-8). Washington, Carey 1-1 (25-23).A-17,021 (18,130).