NHL Playoffs Roundup : Bruins Overcome 3-0 Deficit to Beat Sabres and Even Series, 5-3

One night after being shut out by the Buffalo Sabres to open their Adams Division semifinal series, the Boston Bruins appeared to be skating their way quickly out of the playoffs and into the off-season Thursday night.

Having gone winless against the Sabres during the regular season, and trailing, 3-0, in the third period, a comeback seemed unlikely.

However, Craig Janney and Bobby Carpenter scored goals 48 seconds apart early in the third period at Boston as the Bruins came back to beat the Sabres, 5-3, and even their series at one win apiece.

“When it was 3-0, I thought about last night’s game quite a bit,” said Boston Coach Terry O’Reilly, who blasted several players for their performance in Wednesday night’s 6-0 loss.

Janney tied the game at 1:08 of the third period, and Carpenter’s go-ahead goal came on a power play at 1:56 when Clint Malarchuk, starting his first game since suffering a severe neck wound March 22, stopped Ray Bourque’s shot from the blue line with his glove but dropped the puck. Randy Burridge tipped it to Carpenter, who scored to put the Bruins ahead for the first time.

Malarchuk is winless in seven career decisions in the playoffs.

“Normally, we’d be happy to get out of here with a split,” he said. “But when you win the first one and get a 3-0 lead in the second one, it’s kind of a kick in the gut.”

The Bruins, who had a better record on the road than at home this season, play the next two games of the best-of-seven series at Buffalo this weekend.

Calgary 5, Vancouver 2--Joel Otto and Colin Patterson each had a goal and an assist in the first period at Calgary as the Flames rebounded from an opening-game upset to even the Smythe Division semifinal series at one win apiece.

Otto opened the scoring with a short-handed goal, set up by Patterson at 8:20 into the game, then set up Patterson’s first goal of the playoffs with one second remaining in the period.

Theoren Fleury and Doug Gilmour scored in the second period as the Flames took a 4-0 lead, and Hakan Loob scored an inconsequential goal in the third period.

The Flames, who finished first in the overall National Hockey League standings and were 43 points ahead of the Canucks, lost the series opener Wednesday night, 4-3, in overtime.

Philadelphia 3, Washington 2--Brian Propp’s second goal of the game with 51 seconds remaining capped Philadelphia’s three-goal third-period comeback at Landover, Md., as the Flyers evened their Patrick Division semifinal series at a win apiece.

With Washington’s Dale Hunter off the ice for slashing Flyer goalie Ron Hextall, Tim Kerr’s shot from the lower left circle hit Propp and deflected past goaltender Pete Peeters. It was Propp’s third goal in two games.

Propp had tied the score with 8:35 remaining when he tipped Gord Murphy’s shot past Peeters for a power-play goal.

Montreal 3, Hartford 2--Bobby Smith’s power-play goal highlighted a three-goal second period at Montreal as the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead in the Adams Division semifinal series.

Montreal was on a power-play when Petr Svoboda’s point shot was blocked, picked up by Mats Naslund in the slot and fed across to Smith at the side of the crease. He slapped it past goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz at 17:02 of the period.

Brian Skrudland and Mike McPhee also scored for Montreal, while goalie Patrick Roy stretched his home unbeaten string to 31 games (27-0-4).

Pittsburgh 7, New York 4--Kevin Stevens, Rob Brown and Jock Callender scored in a span of 91 seconds to spark a five-goal first period at Pittsburgh as the Penguins took a two-game lead in their Patrick Division semifinal series.

Scoring leader Mario Lemieux, who had been held to one assist in the first two games after finishing the regular season with 199 points, scored his first-ever playoff goal into an empty net with 1:06 remaining.

Chicago 5, Detroit 4--Duane Sutter scored at 14:36 of the overtime period, and the Blackhawks beat the Red Wings at Detroit to tie their Norris Division semifinal series.

It was the first overtime playoff win since 1985 for the Blackhawks, who had lost 14 of their previous 15 playoff games.

Dirk Graham, who had a goal and two assists, took a pass from Bob Murray and bounced a shot off the backboards. The puck bounced out to Sutter, who beat Detroit goalie Greg Stefan.

Detroit’s Steve Yzerman had three goals--his first playoff hat trick--in the losing effort.

St. Louis 4, Minnesota 3--Rick Meagher scored his second goal of the game 5:30 into overtime at Minnesota as the Blues opened a 2-0 lead in their Norris Division semifinal series.

Blue defenseman Paul Cavallini forced overtime on a screened slap shot with 1:44 left in the third period, climaxing a comeback from a 3-1 deficit.