Hurricanes wind up series with OT win

Forget about the Carolina Hurricanes’ slow start. They fashioned a fine finish and knocked out the Montreal Canadiens.

Cory Stillman scored 1 minute, 19 seconds into overtime and the Hurricanes eliminated the Canadiens with a 2-1 win Tuesday night at Montreal. After dropping the first two games of the best-of-7 series at home, Carolina roared back to win four straight – three in Montreal.

The Hurricanes will face the New Jersey Devils in the second round and have home-ice advantage.

Stillman took a pass from captain Rod Brind’Amour in the neutral zone and drove a slap shot from the top of the left circle over Cristobal Huet’s left shoulder.

The puck, which struck defenseman Craig Rivet’s stick on its way past Huet, hit the right post and settled into the net behind the Montreal goalie, silencing the sellout crowd that hoped to see the Canadiens force a seventh game back in Carolina.

Rookie Cam Ward won his fourth straight start, stopping 25 shots. Mark Recchi scored his first goal of the playoffs for the Hurricanes.

Huet made 27 saves, many of which kept the Canadiens in the game, including a sensational right pad stop on Chad Larose in the final minute of regulation.

Sheldon Souray scored his third of the series on a power play in the first before Recchi tied it at 1 just 30 seconds later.

Ward took over the net from Martin Gerber, who was pulled in the first period of Game 2 after allowing nine goals on 34 shots in the first two contests.

Ward gave up only five goals in Carolina’s four victories, making 105 saves.

Sabres 7, Flyers 1: At Philadelphia, Buffalo dominated from the first faceoff, flexing its scoring muscle to reach the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time in five years and extending Philadelphia’s Stanley Cup drought to 30 seasons.

Chris Drury scored twice and Ryan Miller had 21 saves for the Sabres, who won the best-of-7 series in six games and will play Northeast Division rival Ottawa in the second round.

Mike Grier, Alex Kotalik and Derek Roy all scored for Buffalo in the first period to take the life out of a raucous crowd and make Philadelphia wait 40 more miserable minutes for its inevitable elimination.

The Sabres did what no team had done in the series – win on the road. Buffalo took all three games at home and Philadelphia won Games 3 and 4, giving the Sabres an edge even if a Game 7 was forced.