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Devils’ Goalie Does His Work, And Scores Also

Associated Press

NHL playoffs

Martin Brodeur not only stops goals for the New Jersey Devils. These days, he scores them.

Brodeur became only the second goaltender in NHL playoff history to score as he wristed a shot the length of the ice to cap a three-goal third period and lead the Devils to a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the opening game of their first-round playoff series at East Rutherford, N.J..

“I was freaking out,” said Brodeur, whose empty-net goal came with 44.6 seconds to play. “It was unbelievable. When I shot it, it went over everyone and I kind of lost it. I saw John MacLean raise his arms up. I said: ‘Wow, it’s got to go in if he’s doing that.’ “Guys in front of me went to the side and I saw it go in,” the 24-year-old Montreal native said. “I’ll never forget that moment.”

Brodeur’s flip the length of the ice capped a bizarre game that saw the Devils take an early 2-0 lead, give it away with two second-period short-handed goals and then come back to put the feisty Canadiens away.

Devils 5, Canadiens 2

Montreal 0 2 0 - 2

New Jersey 2 0 3 - 5

First period-1, New Jersey, Rolston 1 (Stevens, Guerin), 4:28. 2, New Jersey, Chambers 1 (Holik, Niedermayer), 8:07 (pp).

Second period-3, Montreal, Corson 1 (Recchi, Quintal), 5:40 (sh). 4, Montreal, Brunet, 17:17 (sh).

Third period-5, New Jersey, Guerin 1 (Stevens, Gilmour), 5:19. 6, New Jersey, Rolston 2 (Gilmour), 11:59 (sh). 7, New Jersey, Brodeur 1, 19:15 (en).

Shots on goal-Montreal 13-10-7-30. New Jersey 16-4-15-35.Power-play opp.- Montreal 0 of 6; New Jersey 1 of 6.Goalies- Montreal, Thibault 0-1 (34 shots-30 saves). New Jersey, Brodeur 1-0 (30-28).A-19,040 (19,040).

Flyers 5, Penguins 1

Philadelphia

Garth Snow made 27 saves in his first playoff start and Eric Lindros had a goal and three assists as Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh.

The win put the Flyers up 1-0 in the best-of-seven playoff series, with Game 2 set for Saturday night in Philadelphia. Former Spokane Chief Pat Falloon had two goals and Rod Brind’Amour had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia.

Snow, subbing for a slumping Ron Hextall, had a number of good saves, but none better than the one he made on Mario Lemieux 2 minutes into the third period. Snow gloved aside a point-blank bid from Lemieux, who was alone about 10 feet in front of the net.

Pittsburgh 0 0 1 - 1

Philadelphia 1 2 2 - 5

First period-1, Philadelphia, Falloon 1 (Brind’Amour, Dykhuis), 7:45.

Second period-2, Philadelphia, LeClair 1 (Lindros, Renberg), :39. 3, Philadelphia, Brind’Amour 1 (Desjardins, Lindros), 19:28 (pp).

Third period-4, Pittsburgh, Jagr 1 (Nedved, Woolley), 5:00. 5, Philadelphia, Lindros 1 (Prospal, Niinimaa), 8:51 (pp). 6, Philadelphia, Falloon 2 (Lindros), 18:17.

Shots on goal-Pittsburgh 6-10-12-28. Philadelphia 15-11-12-38.Power-play opp.-Pittsburgh 0 of 3; Philadelphia 2 of 4.Goalies-Pittsburgh, Wregget 0-1 (38 shots, 33 saves). Philadelphia, Snow 1-0 (28-27).A-19,618 (19,511).

Sabres 3, Senators 1

Buffalo, N.Y.

Brian Holzinger scored one goal and set up another to lead Buffalo to victory over Ottawa in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Sabres had gone 173 minutes, 27 seconds without a goal against Ron Tugnutt before they scored three times in the final 25:30 of the game in winning their first playoff game in two years.

Ottawa 0 0 1 - 1

Buffalo 0 1 2 - 3

First period-None.

Second period-1, Buffalo, Holzinger 1 (Ward), 14:30 (sh).

Third period-2, Ottawa, Alfredsson 1 (Yashin, Duchesne), 3:57 (pp). 3, Buffalo, Plante 1 (May, Grosek), 5:08. 4, Buffalo, Burridge 1 (Holzinger, Galley), 14:09 (pp).

Shots on goal-Ottawa 8-5-10-23. Buffalo 9-12-5-26.Power-play opp.- Ottawa 1 of 6; Buffalo 1 of 5.Goalies- Ottawa, Tugnutt 0-1-0 (26 shots-23 saves). Buffalo, Hasek 1-0-0 (23-22).A-18,595 (18,595).

Panthers 3, Rangers 0

Miami

Florida goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck earned his fourth career playoff shutout as the Panthers beat New York in the opener of their playoff series.

Florida scored three goals in a 9-minute span in the second period to begin their defense of the Eastern Conference title. Johan Garpenlov, Kirk Muller and Rob Niedermayer scored for Florida.

NY Rangers 0 0 0 - 0

Florida 0 3 0 - 3

First period-None.

Second period-1, Florida, Garpenlov 1 (Svehla, Mellanby), 6:06 (pp). 2, Florida, Muller 1, (Murphy, Svehla), 13:13 (pp). 3, Florida, Niedermayer 1, (Mellanby, Svehla), 15:07.

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-New York 13-16-5-34. Florida 10-13-5-28.Power-play opp.- New York 0 of 4; Florida 2 of 5.Goalies- New York, Richter 0-1-0 (28 shots-25 saves). Florida, Vanbiesbrouck 1-0-0 (34-34).A-14,703 (14,703).