Rats! Panthers Eliminate Flyers

NHL

John Vanbiesbrouck made 34 saves and Bill Lindsay had a goal and assisted on another to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-1 victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday night in Miami and eliminate the heavily-favored Flyers from the playoffs.

The 3-year-old Panthers, in the midst of their first playoff run, will take on Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals. Florida beat Philadelphia 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Vanbiesbrouck held the Flyers scoreless for 116:46 stretching back to Game 5 until John LeClair scored in the third period for the Flyers. By then, the Panthers had the game well in hand.

Rob Niedermayer, Dave Lowry and Johan Garpenlov scored in the third period as Florida fans rained down plastic rats - the team’s unofficial mascot - onto the ice after every goal.

Philadelphia pulled the goaltender with 2:05 left, but it resulted in an empty-net goal for the Panthers.

It was the second straight year the Flyers were eliminated by a team they were supposed to beat. Last season, New Jersey beat Philadelphia in six games en route to the Stanley Cup.

Florida became only the second franchise since 1970 expansion to go a conference championship series in its first playoff run. Florida will try to outdo the 1981-1982 Quebec Nordiques, who lost in the conference finals to the New York Islanders.

Panthers 4, Flyers 1

Philadelphia 0 0 1 - 1

Florida 1 0 3 - 4

First period-1, Florida, Lindsay 3, 14:54 (sh). Second period-None. Third period-2, Florida, Niedermayer 3 (Straka), 2:55 (pp). 3, Florida, Lowry 7 (Barnes), 11:12. 4, Philadelphia, LeClair 6 (Svoboda, Desjardins), 15:43. 5, Florida, Garpenlov 3 (Lindsay, Warrener), 18:35 (en).

Shots on goal-Philadelphia 13-9-13-35. Florida 13-9-8-30.Power-play opp.-Philadelphia 0 of 4; Florida 1 of 3.Goalies-Philadelphia, Hextall 6-6 (29 shots-26 saves). Florida, Vanbiesbrouck 8-3 (35-34).A-14,703 (14,703).

Red Wings 4, Blues 2

St. Louis

Detroit avoided an historic upset, at least for a night, building a three-goal lead and then hanging on for a victory over St. Louis.

Igor Larionov and Kris Draper scored first-period goals and Dino Ciccarelli scored on a third-period power play as the Red Wings, who won the first two games of the series, evened it at three games apiece and forced a Game 7 Thursday night in Detroit.

Steve Leach scored with 4:47 to play and assisted on a goal by Brett Hull with 3:48 left as the Blues, who finished 51 points behind the Red Wings in the regular season, put a scare into them before falling. Nicklas Lidstrom ended the suspense when he scored on a slap shot from the top of the slot with 28.1 seconds to go.

No team has finished so far behind its opponent in the regular season and then beaten them in the playoffs, and in Game 6 the Blues looked like a big underdog until the end.

At stake is a spot in the conference finals against Colorado. The Blues haven’t made it that far in a decade while the Red Wings went to the Cup finals last year before getting swept by New Jersey.

The goals by Larionov and Draper - who got the first short-handed goal by either team in the series - equaled the Red Wings’ total from the previous two games. Ciccarelli scored on a deflection at 9:15 of the third to make it 3-0.

Detroit defenseman Bob Rouse was hit above the right eye by a shot from the Blues’ Steve Leach in the second period. He received stitches and was taken to a hospital for X-rays.

Detroit 2 0 2 - 4

St. Louis 0 0 2 - 2

First period-1, Detroit, Larionov 4 (Kozlov, Konstantinov), 10:17. 2, Detroit, Draper 4, 14:05 (sh). Second period-None. Third period-3, Detroit, Ciccarelli 4 (Coffey, Lidstrom), 9:15 (pp). 4, St. Louis, Leach 3 (Hull, MacInnis), 15:13 (pp). 5, St. Louis, Hull 6 (Gretzky, Leach), 16:12. 6, Detroit, Lidstrom 3 (Yzerman, Fedorov), 19:31.

Shots on goal-Detroit 10-3-9-22. St. Louis 8-5-7-20.Power-play opp.-Detroit 1 of 6; St. Louis 1 of 6.Goalies-Detroit, Osgood 5-3 (20 shots18 saves). St. Louis, Casey 6-5 (22-18).A-20,796 (19,260).