NHL PLAYOFFS : Rangers Send Nordiques Packing (to Denver?)

The Quebec Nordiques likely are headed to Denver. The New York Rangers definitely are going to Philadelphia.

The Nordiques, who had the second best record in the NHL during the season, were knocked out of the playoffs with a 4-2 loss Tuesday night at New York on a day they learned the franchise apparently was moving to Denver.

“We didn’t look at ourselves as underdogs,” New York defenseman Brian Leetch said. “We felt if we played well, we would win.”

The Rangers, who struggled to make the playoffs, earned a trip to Philadelphia for the second round starting this weekend after wrapping up their opening series with the Nordiques in six games.

“The Rangers were very, very deserving of winning this series,” Nordiques Coach Marc Crawford said. “They just handled adversity better than we did.”

The Rangers lost the first game in Quebec when they let a two-goal lead in the third period slip away. But Tuesday night, there was no such letdown as the defending champions made it look easy, scoring the game’s first four goals, including two by Alexei Kovalev.

“Alex is a battler, he’s a hard kid and he played well for us,” Ranger Coach Colin Campbell said of his forward, who had a team-leading nine points on four goals and five assists in the series.

Ranger captain Mark Messier was injured, but apparently not seriously, when a deflected puck hit him under the chin in the third period. The wound required nine stitches.

Just a few hours before the game, the Nordiques learned that management rejected a government plan to try to keep the financially troubled team in Quebec. That probably means the team will move to Denver for next season.

Pittsburgh 7, Washington 1--The Capitals missed out on another opportunity to end their series by giving up four first-period goals to the Penguins at Landover, Md., leading to a seventh game Thursday at Pittsburgh.

Jaromir Jagr and Luc Robitaille each scored twice in the first period for the Penguins, who will be seeking to duplicate their comeback of 1992, when they rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Washington on the way to winning the Stanley Cup.

“We played absolutely terrible. There’s no other way to describe it,” said Washington’s Keith Jones. “Collectively, that was the worst I’ve seen us all season long.”

The Penguins, on the other hand, were outstanding. Ken Wregget stopped 30 shots, Tomas Sandstrom scored twice and Robitaille had four points for Pittsburgh, which fought off elimination Sunday at home with a 6-5 comeback victory in overtime.

No late heroics were needed this time as the Penguins built a 4-0 lead in the opening 12:02.

NHL Notes

St. Louis Blues forward Brendan Shanahan fractured his right ankle in Monday night’s overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks and will be out indefinitely.