Florida Rides Goaltender To 5-1 Romp
John Vanbiesbrouck frustrated the Pittsburgh Penguins, Tom Fitzgerald finished them off with two goals and the Florida Panthers seized the lead in the Eastern Conference finals with a 5-1 victory Saturday night.
Vanbiesbrouck, the biggest star in the mostly no-name Panthers’ surprising playoff run, stopped 32 of 33 shots for his first victory in six career playoff starts against the Penguins.
The Panthers, successfully confounding Pittsburgh with the same low-risk defensive scheme that confused previous playoff victims Boston and Philadelphia, can take a 2-0 lead Monday night in Game 2.
Dave Lowry scored a power-play goal with 1:52 gone, supplying the early momentum that allowed Vanbiesbrouck to constantly turn aside the Penguins’ platoon of big-name scorers.
Pittsburgh failed to get a goal from either Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr for the first time in 12 playoff games and only the fourth time all season. The Penguins, 6-10 in playoff openers since 1991, won seven of the previous nine series in which they lost the opener.
Lemieux had his seven-game goal scoring streak stopped. Jagr, coming off a seven-goal series, had at least one point in the Penguins’ previous 11 playoff games.
Fitzgerald - a star of the New York Islanders’ 1993 playoff upset of Pittsburgh - scored twice to make it 3-0, and Stu Barnes scored his fourth goal of the playoffs at 15:41 of the third following Kevin Miller’s goal.
Scott Mellanby added a power-play goal at 18:48 of the third for the Panthers.
Panthers 5, Penguins 1
Florida 2 1 2 - 5
Pittsburgh 0 0 1 - 1
First period-1, Florida, Lowry 8, 1:52 (pp). 2, Florida, Fitzgerald 1 (Mellanby, Svehla), 16:11. Second period-3, Florida, Fitzgerald 2 (Warrener, Mellanby), 7:12. Third period-4, Pittsburgh, Miller 2 (Roche, Tamer), 7:03. 5, Florida, Barnes 4 (Lowry, Sheppard), 15:41. 6, Florida, Mellanby 2 (Laus, Niedermayer), 18:48 (pp).
Shots on goal-Florida 11-7-7-25. Pittsburgh 14-7-12-33.Power-play opp.-Florida 2 of 6; Pittsburgh 0 of 5.Goalies-Florida, Vanbiesbrouck 9-3 (33 shots-32 saves). Pittsburgh, Wregget 7-2 (25-20).A-17,355 (17,181).
xxxx TODAY’S GAME Colorado at Detroit, noon (FOX)