This Time, Sabres Beat Flyers in Five

Michal Grosek’s power-play goal 5:40 into overtime gave Buffalo a 3-2 victory over the Flyers on Friday at Philadelphia as the Sabres advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

With Chris Gratton off for high-sticking Matthew Barnaby, Grosek hit a shot off the post, then got the rebound and put it over fallen Flyer goaltender Sean Burke.

Buffalo, which had won two of its previous 14 playoff series, eliminated the Flyers, a Stanley Cup finalist last year, in five games. It was the same number Philadelphia needed to beat Buffalo in last year’s playoffs.

“We never expected this,” Flyer captain Eric Lindros said. “We’re a much better team than we showed in this series.”

All of Buffalo’s goals in Game 5 came on power plays. The Sabres converted nine of 32 power-play chances in the series.

Montreal 5, Pittsburgh 2--Mark Recchi scored twice in the third period and Andy Moog provided strong goaltending with 32 saves at Pittsburgh as the Canadiens put the Penguins on the brink of playoff elimination.

Patrice Brisebois and Shayne Corson scored 1:29 apart midway through the second period as Montreal, the NHL’s most storied franchise but one that hasn’t won a playoff series in five years, took a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Montreal played without the injured Stephane Quintal and Brian Savage, but got an emotional lift as Saku Koivu returned from a broken left hand to center their top line. Koivu hadn’t played since April 6.

“My hand is still sore, but I’m glad I came back,” said Koivu, who assisted on Montreal’s third goal. “I was hoping I could help the guys emotionally.”

Boston 4, Washington 0--Seeking to overcome a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in franchise history, the visiting Bruins scored first for the first time in the series to force a Game 6 in Boston Sunday.

“Our main objective was to keep them off the board in the first period,” said goaltender Byron Dafoe, who stopped 26 shots for his first career playoff shutout. “And we did that.”

Then came the goals. Jason Allison and Sergei Samsonov fed each other with similar passes for the goals that gave Boston a 2-0 lead, reversing the 2-0 advantage that Washington had enjoyed in each of the four previous games. Rob DiMaio and Ray Bourque also scored.

NHL Notes

New Jersey Devils forward Jason Arnott had surgery on his right wrist and will sit out the rest of the first-round playoff series against Ottawa. Arnott’s wrist was cut by a teammate’s skate during a line change in the second period of the Devils’ 3-1 victory on Thursday night.