Chelios’ Goal Ousts Canucks
Chris Chelios brought a sudden end to NHL hockey at the Pacific Coliseum.
The Chicago defenseman scored in overtime for the second straight game Saturday, giving the Blackhawks an emotional 4-3 comeback victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a four-game sweep of the Western Conference semifinals. Vancouver will meet Detroit in the conference finals.
Three games in the series went to overtime and in addition to moving the Blackhawks into the conference finals, it also eliminated last year’s Stanley Cup finalists and marked the end of 25 seasons for the Canucks at the Coliseum.
The Canucks, who will move into luxurious GM Place in downtown Vancouver in September, left the ice to mostly appreciative cheers from the crowd of 15,016, although there were some soft drinks thrown on the ice.
Chelios took a pass from Denis Savard and snapped a quick shot past Kirk McLean at 5:35 of overtime. Jeremy Roenick forced the overtime when he scored midway through the third period by banking a shot off the out-of-position McLean.
“In the past, we were a team in trouble when we got a couple goals down,” Chelios said. “With the addition of guys like Denis Savard and Murray Craven, we’ve been able to come back without opening up too much.”
In each overtime game, the Blackhawks battled from behind. Joe Murphy scored in overtime in Game 1 in Chicago and Chelios in Game 3 in Vancouver.
“We’re pretty disappointed in that all the games were close,” Canucks coach Rick Ley said.
Chicago 0 2 1 1 - 4
Vancouver 0 3 0 0 - 3
First Period-None.
Second Period-1, Vancouver, Brown 1 (Gelinas, Peca), 4:01. 2, Chicago, Craven 5 (Nicholls, Smith), 4:13. 3, Vancouver, Oksiuta 1 (Brown, Courtnall), 9:11 (pp). 4, Vancouver, Oksiuta 2 (Lumme), 17:29. 5, Chicago, Diduck 1 (Savard, Sutter), 19:12.
Third Period-6, Chicago, Roenick 1 (Russell, Amonte), 10:49.
Overtime-7, Chicago, Chelios 3 (Savard, Graham), 5:35.
Shots on goal-Chicago 7-12-5-3-27. Vancouver 4-10-6-5-25.Power-play opp.-Chicago 0 of 8; Vancouver 1 of 4.Goalies-Chicago, Belfour 8-3 (25 shots-22 saves). Vancouver, McLean 4-7 (27-23).A-15,016 (16,150).
Red Wings 6, Sharks 2
San Jose, Calif.
Vyacheslav Kozlov scored two goals for the second straight game as Detroit completed its four-game sweep of San Jose.
Paul Coffey scored Detroit’s first goal, becoming the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL playoff history. He later added an assist and now has 166 points, two more than Denis Potvin, to rank seventh overall on the career scoring list.
Detroit captain Steve Yzerman twisted his right knee late in the second period and had to be helped off the ice. Yzerman, who had surgery on the knee in 1988, did not return to the game. The severity of the injury was unclear.
Detroit 4 1 1 - 6
San Jose 0 2 0 - 2
First period-1, Detroit, Coffey 4, 6:01. 2, Detroit, Kozlov 6 (Sheppard, Fetisov), 6:29. 3, Detroit, Brown 3 (Kozlov, Fedorov), 9:56. 4, Detroit, Kozlov 7 (Brown, Fetisov), 10:34.
Second period-5, San Jose, Whitney 4 (Kyte, Larionov), 1:15. 6, San Jose, Rathje 5 (More, Dahlen), 9:16 (pp). 7, Detroit, Errey 1 (Coffey, Fedorov), 14:39 (pp).
Third period-8, Detroit, McCarty 3, (Draper, Burr), 7:44.
Shots on goal-Detroit 13-12-7-32. San Jose 7-5-5-17.Power-play opp.-Detroit 1 of 5; San Jose 1 of 3.Goalies-Detroit, Vernon 8-1 (17 shots-15 saves). San Jose, Flaherty 2-3 (32-26).A-17,190 (17,190).
xxxx STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS Today’s game New Jersey at Pittsburgh, noon (FOX)