STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Late Goal Lifts Sharks Past Red Wings, 5-4

It was San Jose’s first playoff game, while the Detroit Red Wings, one of the NHL’s original six, were making their 43rd postseason appearance.

But the night belonged to the Sharks.

A goal by Vlastimil Kroupa at 15:36 of the third period gave the Sharks a 5-4 victory over the Red Wings at Detroit on Monday night in their first-round Western Conference series.

“Nobody in our dressing room thought it would be a four-game series,” Detroit’s Dino Ciccarelli said. “We’re faced with a little adversity now. But we expect it will be a long series.”

Kroupa, on a feed from Todd Elik, wristed a shot from the right circle under the glove of Bob Essensa for the winner.

The Sharks, who had never won on Detroit ice, took a 3-0 first-period lead, including Shawn Cronin’s first goal in more than a year.

New York Rangers 6, New York Islanders 0--Mike Richter turned in his second consecutive shutout and the Rangers, in virtually a copy of Game 1, scored four goals in the second period at New York.

The Rangers got started quickly against rookie goalie Jamie McLennan, who held them scoreless for 67:22 in two relief appearances this season. McLennan, who had stopped 33 consecutive shots in the previous two games against the Rangers, gave up a goal to Alexei Kovalev on the first shot he faced.

Vancouver 5, Calgary 0--Goaltender Kirk McLean stopped 31 shots at Calgary as the Canucks took a 1-0 lead in their playoff series.

Trevor Linden, with his first goal in 10 games, Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning, Jeff Brown and Dave Babych scored as Vancouver, heavy underdogs to the Pacific Division champion Flames, added to Calgary’s playoff nightmare.

The Flames haven’t won a playoff series since their 1989 Stanley Cup championship.

It was the third playoff shutout of McLean’s career.

Toronto 5, Chicago 1--Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Kent Manderville, Jamie Macoun and Dave Andreychuk scored in the first 27 minutes against goaltender Ed Belfour as the Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference playoff series by winning at home.

Chris Chelios scored Chicago’s only goal in the third period.

Montreal 3, Boston 2--Paul Dipietro and Kirk Muller scored early in the third period and Patrick Roy made 40 saves at Boston as the Canadiens evened their playoff series at one game apiece.

Muller gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead with 4:32 gone in the period with his second goal of the game. Then Roy took over. His best save came with 3:09 remaining when he gloved a 25-foot Ray Bourque slap shot that was headed for the corner of the net.