Barnes Opens Door of Hope for Sabres

When Stu Barnes lifted his shot over Philadelphia goalie Brian Boucher’s shoulder, he raised the hopes of the Buffalo Sabres too.

Barnes scored on an off-balance shot 4:42 into overtime as the Sabres averted playoff elimination with a 3-2 victory over the Flyers Tuesday night at Buffalo.

“You just react at that point,” Barnes said. “I can’t say I even picked the corner. I just tried to get it on net, and fortunately it went where the goalie wasn’t.”

The Sabres, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven opening-round series, will play Game 5 Thursday night at Philadelphia.

Curtis Brown and Miroslav Satan each had a goal and assist for the Sabres, who won despite blowing a 2-0 lead and also overcoming yet another disputed goal.

New Jersey 2, Florida 1--Brian Rafalski had a goal and an assist and the Devils moved within one victory of advancing to the second round for the first time in three years by beating the Panthers at Sunrise, Fla.

The Devils took a 3-0 lead. Game 4 will be Thursday.

Martin Brodeur--and the Devils’ defense--continued to stifle the Panthers and Pavel Bure. Brodeur stopped 21 shots, including 15 in the third period, and improved to 7-0-3 in his last 10 games against Florida.

Bure has yet to score, something he did 58 times in the regular season to lead the league.

“He is getting a lot of attention,” Panther Coach Terry Murray said. “It is going to be difficult for him to get close to the net for any length of time.”

Scott Stevens, New Jersey’s star defenseman, continued to shadow Bure, limiting the Russian Rocket’s shots and keeping him from skating in open ice. Bure managed just one shot and has eight in the series.

Dallas 4, Edmonton 3--Guy Carbonneau scored on a long wrist shot early in the third period at Edmonton as the Stars won despite a hat trick by the Oilers’ Bill Guerin.

Dallas has a 3-1 lead, with Game 5 Friday night at Dallas.

Oiler goalie Tommy Salo appeared screened by defenseman Igor Ulanov when Carbonneau’s shot from the high slot went over his glove hand, breaking a 3-3 tie 5:01 into the final period.