Upstart Sharks Again Smell Blood In Playoffs

Stanley Cup playoffs

Ulf Dahlen scored a power-play goal at 12:21 of overtime as the San Jose Sharks moved toward another NHL playoff upset with a 5-4 victory Tuesday over the Calgary Flames at Calgary, Alberta.

Dahlen scored just 7 seconds after Calgary’s Theoren Fleury took a needless elbowing penalty. He banged home the rebound of a shot by Jeff Friesen. It was Friesen whom Fleury had elbowed.

“The puck came off the boards. I had an open net,” Dahlen said. “It was easy to put in.”

The Sharks, who upset favored Detroit in the first round of last season’s playoffs, lead the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal 2-0 with the next two games in San Jose.

Calgary’s Robert Reichel tied the game at 4 with 46.3 seconds remaining when he backhanded a shot past the Sharks’ Arturs Irbe during a wild scramble. The Flames had pulled goaltender Trevor Kidd, formerly of the Spokane Chiefs, in favor of an extra attacker.

The goal was Reichel’s first in the playoffs in two years.

Sandis Ozolinsh’s second goal of the night off a three-on-one break at 8:42 of the third period had given the Sharks a 4-3 lead.

Chris Tancill and Pat Falloon also scored for the Sharks, who finished seventh in the conference, 13 points behind second-seeded Calgary.

San Jose 1 2 1 1 - 5 Calgary 2 0 2 0 - 4

First Period-1, Calgary, Titov 2 (Zalapski, Sullivan), 7:26. 2, Calgary, Kennedy 1 (Sullivan) 13:49 (sh). 3, San Jose, Ozolinsh 1 (Dahlen, Pederson), 19:29 (pp).

Second Period-4, San Jose, Tancill 1, 5:09. 5, San Jose, Falloon 1, (Janney, More), 13:29.

Third Period-6, Calgary, Kisio 1 (Titov), 5:58. 7, San Jose, Ozolinsh 2 (Friesen), 8:42. 8, Calgary, Reichel 1 (Zalapski, Housley), 19:14.

Overtime-9, San Jose, Dahlen 2 (Friesen), 12:21 (pp).

Shots on goal-San Jose 9-13-8-7-37. Calgary 10-9-10-5-34.Power-play opp.-San Jose 2 of 4; Calgary 0 of 4.Goalies-San Jose, Irbe 2-0 (34 shots-30 saves). Calgary, Kidd 0-2 (37-32).A-16,389 (20,230).

Red Wings 4, Stars 1

Detroit

Detroit cashed in on Dallas mistakes and received spectacular play from goaltender Mike Vernon to win and take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Nicklas Lidstrom scored two goals and Vernon made 20 saves in Detroit’s victory. The best-of-seven series moves to Dallas for games 3 and 4 Thursday and Sunday.

Paul Coffey and Keith Primeau also scored for Detroit. Peter Zezel scored for Dallas.

The Red Wings outshot the Stars 29-21 in a game that saw fans hurl 13 octopi on the ice at Joe Louis Arena, three during the National Anthem.

The Red Wings are 5 of 10 in power-play opportunities through the first two games, averaging a goal every 2:30 of power-play time. The Stars are 1 for 12 on power-play tries in the series.

The Red Wings made the Stars pay for every mistake while charging to a 3-1 first-period lead.

Detroit was 2 for 2 on the power play during that surge.

Dallas 1 0 0 - 1 Detroit 3 1 0 - 4

First period-1, Detroit, Coffey 1, 3:44. 2, Detroit, Lidstrom 2 (Yzerman, Coffey), 4:27 (pp). 3, Dallas, Zezel 1 (Gilchrist, Broten), 8:10. 4, Detroit, Lidstrom 3 (Kozlov, Primeau), 17:39 (pp).

Second period-5, Detroit, Primeau 1 (Fetisov, Fedorov), 8:33.

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-Dallas 5-9-7-21. Detroit 11-10-8-29.Power-play opp.-Dallas 0 of 6; Detroit 2 of 4.Goalies-Dallas, Moog 0-2 (29 shots-25 saves). Detroit, Vernon 2-0 (21-20).A-19,875 (19,875).

Maple Leafs 3, Blackhawks 0

Chicago

Felix Potvin made 42 saves for his fourth playoff shutout of Chicago in two years as Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference series.

Potvin, who posted three 1-0 wins over Chicago in last year’s first-round series triumph, capped his fifth career playoff shutout by stopping Patrick Poulin’s penalty shot with 1:49 to go.

Mike Ridley stole the puck and snapped a scoreless tie with 6.8 seconds left in the second period, Mats Sundin scored on a third-period power play, and Mike Gartner added an empty-net goal for Toronto.

Toronto can wrap up the best-of-seven series with home victories on Thursday and Saturday.

Toronto 0 1 2 - 3 Chicago 0 0 0 - 0

First period-None.

Second period-1, Toronto, Ridley 1, 19:53.

Third period-2, Toronto, Sundin 3 (Andreychuk, Gilmour), 9:18 (pp). 3, Toronto, Gartner 2, 19:43 (en).

Shots on goal-Toronto 5-3-9-17. Chicago 12-14-16-42.Poulin, Chi, 18:11 third.Goalies-Toronto, Potvin 2-0 (42 shots-42 saves). Chicago, Belfour 0-2 (16-14).A-19,017 (20,500).

Canucks 5, Blues 3

St. Louis

Russ Courtnall had a goal and three assists, including the game-winner midway through the third period, as Vancouver beat St. Louis to tie their Western Conference series at a game apiece.

Even though they were outshot 36-24, the Canucks dominated most of the last two periods.They took their first lead of the series when Courtnall scored on a high shot from a tight angle on a 2-on-1 rush at 8:11.Pavel Bure beat Curtis Joseph on a shorthanded breakaway 2:07 later to wrap up the victory.

Vancouver 1 2 2 - 5 St. Louis 2 1 0 - 3

First period-1, St. Louis, Elik 1 (Shanahan, MacInnis), 7:42 (pp). 2, St. Louis, Elik 2 (Duchesne), 16:57. 3, Vancouver, Momesso 1 (R.Courtnall, Beranek), 19:21.

Second period-4, Vancouver, Babych 1 (R.Courtnall, Brown), 2:14 (pp). 5, St. Louis, MacInnis 1 (Elik), 10:27. 6, Vancouver, Lumme 1 (Oksiuta), 15:15.

Third period-7, Vancouver, R.Courtnall 1 (Momesso), 8:11. 8, Vancouver, Bure 2 (R.Courtnall), 10:18 (sh).

Shots on goal-Vancouver 6-11-9-26. St. Louis 12-10-14-36.Power-play opp.-Vancouver 1 of 5; St. Louis 1 of 5.Goalies-Vancouver, McLean 1-1 (36 shots-33 saves). St. Louis, Joseph 1-1 (24-19), Casey (10:18 3rd period, 2-2).A-18,876 (19,260).