Richter Is Too Much for Devils
New York Ranger goalie Mike Richter stopped all 35 shots that came his way and got his third shutout of the playoffs, blanking the New Jersey Devils, 3-0, Thursday night at New York for a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“I’m not stunned by the Rangers, but by Mike Richter,” said his New Jersey counterpart, Martin Brodeur. “I don’t think they have the team to really beat us the way they are doing right now. Richter is the big thing.”
The game ended with a skirmish that resulted in penalties to all 10 skaters on the ice, including a game misconduct to the Devils’ Reid Simpson.
Minutes earlier, Ranger right wing Niklas Sundstrom broke his arm when he was slashed by New Jersey’s John MacLean. Sundstrom didn’t immediately know whether he would be able to return to the playoffs.
MacLean was not penalized.
Richter made 13 saves in the first period and repeatedly used his split kick-save in the second as the Devils tried to come back from 1-0 and 2-0 deficits.
The Rangers’ goal in the second period came one second after the end of a power play that was earned in another scary moment, when Wayne Gretzky was pulled down by Scott Niedermayer.
Gretzky’s shoulders and head slammed into the boards and lay flat on the ice for a few seconds before skating slowly to the bench.
“We were just racing to the puck so I really don’t know exactly what happened,” Gretzky said. “I just kind of got stunned for a second, collected myself and got up. That’s just part of the game.”
The goal came on a 2-on-1 when Russ Courtnall fired the puck to the right side of the crease, where Gretzky one-timed it past Brodeur to make the score 2-0.
Adam Graves was credited with his first goal of the playoffs when Alexander Karpovtsev’s slap shot bounced through his legs and past Brodeur to make the score 1-0 at 5:49 of the first period.
The Rangers’ final goal was shot into an empty net by Esa Tikkanen with 57 seconds remaining.
NHL Notes
Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek is expected to start tonight’s Game 4 for the Sabres after missing the first three while serving a suspension for attacking a reporter. . . . Six cities--St. Paul, Atlanta, Houston, Oklahoma City, Nashville and Columbus, Ohio--are awaiting the outcome of an expansion meeting today. The NHL reportedly plans to add two franchises by 1998 and two more by the end of the century. . . . Peter Forsberg was declared out of Game 4 of Colorado’s playoff series against Edmonton because of a minor concussion. . . . For an investment believed to be about $40 million, Roger Marino, a multimillionaire entrepreneur and principal owner of the AHL’s Worcester Ice Caps, has become an equal partner in the Pittsburgh Penguins with Howard Baldwin.