Nordiques Rally To Beat Defending Champions

Joe Sakic’s third goal of the game with 38 seconds left gave Quebec a comeback 5-4 victory over New York in the opener of their NHL playoff series Saturday night at Quebec.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference quarterfinal series is set for Monday night at the Colisee.

The Nordiques entered the final period down 4-2, but got goals from Sakic, Bob Bassen and Sakic to beat the Rangers, who had been 15-0-1 in games in which they led after two periods.

The Nordiques were 3-0 and finished 18 points ahead of the Rangers during the season.

Sakic and Scott Young had scored in the first period for Quebec, which finished first in the conference this season to make the playoffs for only the second time in seven years.

Adam Graves scored in the first period and added another as the Rangers got three goals in the middle period. Alexander Karpovtsev and Alexei Kovalev also scored for New York.

The Rangers hemmed the Nordiques in their zone with vigorous forechecking and did a smart job of cutting off the speedy Nordiques’ fast-break attacks for two periods.

But Quebec skated away from the veteran Rangers in the third and ended up outshooting New York 33-32 thanks to 14 third-period shots.

Sergei Zubov’s rebound off defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre’s leg landed on Graves’ stick at the edge of the crease as New York opened the scoring on a power play 4:34 into the game.

Nordiques 5, Rangers 4 Quebec

N.Y. Rangers 1 3 0 - 4 Quebec 2 0 3 - 5

First period-1, New York, Graves 1, 4:34 (pp). 2, Quebec, Young 1, 17:03 (sh). 3, Quebec, Sakic 1 (Young), 19:41 (pp).

Second period-4, New York, Graves 2 (Messier, Zubov), 5:08 (pp). 5, New York, Karpovtsev 1 (Nemchinov), 9:27. 6, New York, Kovalev 1 (Zubov, Nemchinov), 18:51.

Third period-7, Quebec, Sakic 2 (Simon, Deadmarsh), 9:44. 8, Quebec, Bassen 1 (Nolan), 14:07. 9, Quebec, Sakic 3 (Krupp), 19:22.

Shots on goal-New York 12-13-7-32. Quebec 9-10-14-33.Power-play opp.-New York 2 of 4; Quebec 1 of 5.Goalies-New York, Richter 0-1 (33 shots-28 saves). Quebec, Fiset 1-0 (32-28).A-15,399 (15,399).

Capitals 5, Penguins 4 Pittsburgh

Sergei Gonchar, who scored only twice all season, had two goals and set up another during a four-goal flurry that rallied Washington past Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Trying to duplicate last season’s firstround upset of Pittsburgh, the Capitals overcame three power-play goals - two off the same Peter Bondra penalty - to seize a 1-0 series lead. Game 2 will be Monday in Pittsburgh.

Dale Hunter also scored twice and assisted on Gonchar’s insurance goal as the Capitals beat the Penguins in Game 1 of a playoff series for the fourth time in as many series since 1991. The Penguins rallied from first-game losses to win in 1991 and 1992, but lost to the Capitals in six games last season.

The Penguins are 4-8 in the first game of playoff series since 1991, despite winning two Stanley Cups during that span.

Re-igniting a Pittsburgh power play that was 3 for 25 in its last six regularseason games, Kevin Stevens and Tomas Sandstrom took advantage of Bondra’s 4-minute attempted slashing penalty to each score in the opening 1:38 of the second period, putting Pittsburgh ahead 3-1.

Sandstrom’s goal was unusually soft, prompting Capitals coach Jim Schoenfeld to pull rookie goaltender Jim Carey, who was 18-6-3 during the season, for backup Olaf Kolzig. Ulf Samuelsson’s shot from the right circle ricocheted high off a stick and was muffed by Carey, allowing Sandstrom to swipe it between the goaltender’s legs.

Washington 1 2 2 - 5 Pittsburgh 1 2 1 - 4

First period-1, Pittsburgh, Barrie 1 (U.Samuelsson, Joseph), 1:37 (pp). 2, Washington, Hunter 1 (Konowalchuk), 10:25.

Second period-3, Pittsburgh, Stevens 1 (Maciver, Murphy), :41 (pp). 4, Pittsburgh, Sandstrom 1 (U.Samuelsson, Robitaille), 1:38 (pp). 5, Washington, Gonchar 1 (Hunter, Miller), 3:57. 6, Washington, Konowalchuk 1 (Johansson), 10:59 (sh).

Third period-7, Washington, Hunter 2 (Eagles, Gonchar), :29. 8, Washington, Gonchar 2 (Hunter, Miller), 2:17. 9, Pittsburgh, Jagr 1 (Stevens, Francis), 14:42.

Shots on goal-Washington 14-12-8-34. Pittsburgh 9-7-11-27.Power-play opp.-Washington 0 of 6; Pittsburgh 3 of 7.Goalies-Washington, Carey (11 shots-8 saves), Kolzig 1-0 (1:38 second, 16-15). Pittsburgh, Wregget 0-1 (34-29).A-15,910 (17,181).