It’s Better Late Than Never for Penguins

They have been in precarious situations before and escaped. But the Pittsburgh Penguins weren’t trying to tempt fate Sunday when they came out for the third period of their Eastern Conference final game against the Florida Panthers knowing a loss would leave them a game from elimination.

They didn’t intend to have to rally against the Panthers, who had been 8-0 in playoff games they led after two periods. The Penguins didn’t mean to be in the position of having to play air-tight defense and negate a Florida power play in the final 20 minutes, all the while ignoring 14,703 screaming fans at Miami Arena.

“We didn’t want to die a thousand deaths today,” Penguin winger Bryan Smolinski said.

Instead, they gained new life when Tom Barrasso made 32 saves and Brad Lauer and Smolinski scored in the third period to lift them to a 2-1 victory over the Panthers. That tied their series at 2-2, and they return for Game 5 Tuesday in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins are only 4-4 this spring.

“We didn’t want to go back home down, 3-1,” said Penguin center Mario Lemieux, who set up Smolinski’s game-winner.

Lemieux drew three defenders as he cut from the left side to the middle for a shot that was saved by Florida goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck. With Vanbiesbrouck on his knees and the rebound in the slot, Smolinski bowled over Florida defenseman Gord Murphy to reach the puck and swat it past the helpless goalie. That sparked cries of interference from the Panthers, but no intervention by referee Don Koharski.

“I thought we were playing much better tonight than the other night,” Lemieux said, referring to a 5-2 loss in Game 3 in which the Penguins gave up 61 shots. “We were getting more chances tonight, especially in the third period. We had a meeting [Saturday]. The players on this team understand what they had to do today, like take the body as much as possible and drive to the net. To be successful, you need all five guys on the ice going. You can’t do it alone.”

The Penguins trailed the Washington Capitals, 2-0, in the first round and rallied to win in six games, but the Panthers have infinitely more heart and better playoff goaltending than the Capitals. The Panthers are also finding ways to stop Lemieux and Jagr, holding both scoreless in two games and limiting each to a goal and two assists.

Jagr was pounded mercilessly Sunday, once cut in the mouth and later knocked dizzy, but he and Lemieux played nearly every shift in the third period. That kind of resilience is more often associated with the Panthers, not the talent-laden Penguins, but Pittsburgh proved it can play a tight defensive game when desperation approaches.

“It took us 40 minutes to get going, but we finished very strong,” Penguin Coach Ed Johnston said. “We got a great game from Tom Barrasso and I thought our defense played very well. It was a tough game. Both teams played exceptionally hard. I’m extremely happy with the effort.”

Said Panther Coach Doug MacLean: “No problem. We bounced back from this lots of times. It’s not the end of the world. We go to Pittsburgh and win a game.”

Sunday’s game was scoreless until 12:50 of the second period, when Panther winger Dave Lowry deflected a shot by Terry Carkner past Barrasso for his 10th playoff goal, matching his regular-season total. Lauer brought Pittsburgh even at 8:57 when he chipped a shot over Vanbiesbrouck’s shoulder, and Smolinski scored the winner at 16:29, jumping over the boards to replace Petr Nedved on a line change and heading directly for the net.

“It’s always important to win on the road. This building is so loud and the fans are so supportive,” Lemieux said. “To come in here and win a game has to give us a lot of confidence for the rest of the series.”

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NHL Notes

Penguin forward Dave Roche was suspended for Sunday’s game and fined $1,000 by Brian Burke, the NHL’s director of hockey operations. Burke determined Roche had butt-ended Florida’s Tom Fitzgerald during a melee after play had ended Friday in Game 3. . . . The Stanley Cup finals will start June 4-6 at the city of the Western Conference series winner.