Doan’s Goal Breaks Fuhr’s Spell

The Phoenix Coyotes managed a rare playoff victory against goaltender Grant Fuhr--and they did it with their youth movement.

Shane Doan, drafted less than four years ago and seeing expanded playing time because of an injury to Jeremy Roenick, scored the winning goal in a 4-3 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues at Phoenix.

“I think it went off Fuhr’s skate,” Doan said Saturday after tapping a pass from Dallas Drake past Fuhr 8:58 into overtime. “It was just sitting there. I only had to move it an inch. My heart was pounding, but I made sure I wasn’t in the crease beforehand.”

The victory tied the first-round series 1-1 and marked a dramatic comeback for the Coyotes. Phoenix had its only other lead at 3-2 on Keith Carney’s unassisted goal late in the third period, but Pavol Demitra tied it for St. Louis with 3:18 left.

Had the Coyotes lost, they would have faced a 2-0 deficit going into Game 3 today and the prospect of possibly not returning to the America West Arena.

Fuhr, prevented from tying Billy Smith for second in NHL history with 88 playoff victories, had 24 saves. He was in goal for the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 and 1987, when they ended the Winnipeg Jets’ only two trips beyond the first round in 13 previous postseason appearances. The Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996.

Fuhr, who earned a 3-1 victory over the Coyotes on Thursday, fell to 16-2 lifetime against the Jets-Coyotes in the playoffs.

Toronto 2, Philadelphia 1--Mats Sundin knocked a rebound past goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck with 52.4 seconds remaining to complete a last-ditch comeback by the Maple Leafs at Toronto.

Both Toronto goals came in the last two minutes of the game and sent the teams to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4 Monday and Wednesday with the series tied at 1-1.

Steve Thomas, who had Toronto’s first goal, appeared to score in the second period, but the goal was disallowed because the whistle had blown before the puck went in. Play was stopped because Eric Desjardins was lying motionless behind the net after being elbowed in the head by Thomas. Desjardins went to the dressing room briefly but returned to the ice few minutes later.

Carolina 3, Boston 2--Ray Sheppard scored off a wild scramble with 2:55 left in overtime as the Hurricanes rallied past the Bruins at home to tie their series at 1-1.

The Hurricanes overcame the loss of Ron Francis, who missed the game with a sprained ankle suffered in the series opener. Carolina also had to play with only four defensemen for most of the game after losing Marek Malik to a thigh bruise and Nolan Pratt to a groin strain.

Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 1--The Penguins, playing without league-leading scorer Jaromir Jagr, put together an all-around defensive game behind goaltender Tom Barrasso to even their playoff series at a game apiece at East Rutherford, N.J.

Jagr, the Penguins’ captain, was scratched right before the game because of a groin injury suffered in Thursday night’s 3-1 loss to the Devils in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. Jagr was listed as day-to-day.

Aleksey Morozov, Greg Andrusak, Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev scored for Pittsburgh and the Penguins simply suffocated the Devils with a tight-checking defense that allowed few quality chances.