Three-Overtime Win Guarantees Montreal Another Game

Patrice Brisebois put a backhander past Martin Brodeur at 7:37 of triple overtime and the Montreal Canadiens avoided a sweep with a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Thursday night at Montreal.

Brisebois, who missed the first two games of the series because of a rib injury, converted a give-and-go with Saku Koivu, who slid a pass from the goal line just under a sliding Steve Thomas. Brisebois knocked it down with his left skate and flipped a backhander that hopped over Brodeur’s right pad for his fourth career postseason goal on the game’s 100th shot.

The Devils lead the series 3-1. Game 5 is Saturday in New Jersey.

Montreal has won a league-record 13 consecutive overtime games in the playoffs dating back to their 1993 Stanley Cup win, when they won 10 in the extra period.

The win was Montreal’s first in the postseason in the new Molson Centre. The Canadiens lost the three playoff games in Montreal last season to the New York Rangers, and lost to the Devils on Tuesday.

The Devils ended a nine-game playoff winning streak going back to the final two rounds of their 1995 Stanley Cup triumph. New Jersey missed the playoffs last year.

Former Canadien Lyle Odelein forced overtime when he scored with 1:36 left in regulation on a shot from the left side that went off Shayne Corson’s stick.

The Canadiens erased New Jersey’s 2-0 lead on a pair of disputed goals awarded after video reviews and took the lead at 5:03 of the third period on Mark Recchi’s second goal of the game.

Colorado 7, Chicago 0--Patrick Roy set an NHL record with his 89th career playoff victory, and Valeri Kamensky broke out of a postseason scoring slump with three goals as the Avalanche took a 3-2 series lead with a victory over the Blackhawks at Denver.

Roy, who eclipsed the record of 88 victories held by former New York Islander goalie Billy Smith, had 25 saves to record his 10th career playoff shutout. “It’s a great honor,” Roy said. “It’s nice to pass a guy like Billy Smith who had a fantastic playoff career. Hopefully, I can add to the record in our next game in Chicago.”

Kamensky, who had scored only one goal in 14 previous playoff games, also had an assist. Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic each had three assists as Colorado rebounded from poor performances in Games 3 and 4.

Chicago Coach Craig Hartsburg said Colorado “outplayed us in every aspect. They bounced back from a poor game the other night. This was probably our poorest of the series. We didn’t have near enough guys compete. We have to get our ‘A’ game in shape and be ready to play Saturday night so we can come back here next week.”