Big rally puts Caps up 3-1

Times wires
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Then Jason Chimera scored with 7:24 left in the second overtime to give them a 4-3 victory over the Rangers on Wednesday and a 3-1 series lead.

New York scored three times in the second, including seven seconds apart by Marian Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky, and seemed poised to head back to Washington all even in the series. After all, New York was the only team this season to be perfect when leading after two periods (29-0).

But Alexander Semin started Washington's rally, and Marcus Johansson scored the next two to force overtime.

And now the top-seeded Capitals can eliminate the Rangers on Saturday at home, where they won the series' first two games.

The game ended suddenly. When a loose puck, seemingly harmless, drifted into the left circle, Rangers goalie Henrik Lund­qvist came out to play it. But before he could fall on it, Gaborik poked it right to Chimera, who was behind Lundqvist, for the easy goal.

First Period—None. Penalties—Boyle, NYR (goaltender interference), 7:07; B.Gordon, Was (tripping), 9:46; Sturm, Was (interference), 16:21; Boyle, NYR (goaltender interference), 18:55; Ovechkin, Was (interference), 19:58.

Second Period—1, N.Y. Rangers, Anisimov 1 (Drury, Sauer), 5:24. 2, N.Y. Rangers, Gaborik 1 (Fedotenko, Dubinsky), 13:40. 3, N.Y. Rangers, Dubinsky 2 (Fedotenko), 13:47. Penalties—Green, Was (tripping), 2:56; Semin, Was (boarding), 19:16.

Third Period—4, Washington, Semin 2, 2:47. 5, Washington, Johansson 1 (Laich, Green), 3:44. 6, Washington, Johansson 2 (Carlson, Alzner), 12:07. Penalties—Avery, NYR (slashing), 10:03; B.Gordon, Was (tripping), 12:48.

First Overtime—None. Penalties—Stepan, NYR (delay of game), 14:44.

Second Overtime—7, Washington, Chimera 2, 12:36. Penalties—Washington bench, served by Ovechkin (too many men), 5:21. Shots on Goal—Washington 10-12-13-13-5—53. N.Y. Rangers 6-13-7-9-4—39. Power-play opportunities—Washington 0 of 4; N.Y. Rangers 0 of 7. Goalies—Washington, Neuvirth 3-1-0 (39 shots-36 saves). N.Y. Rangers, Lundqvist 1-3-0 (53-49). A—18,200 (18,200).

Miller's shutout helps Sabres tie series at 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ryan Miller made 32 saves for his second shutout of the playoffs as the Sabres beat the Flyers 1-0 to even their series at 2.

Jason Pominville scored 9:38 into the game for Buffalo, which also won the series opener 1-0.

The Flyers lost their leading scorer, Jeff Carter, to an apparent knee injury. Carter, who had 36 goals during the regular season, left with 2:12 left in the first. He did not return, and his status was unknown.

The soldout crowd was on its feet cheering Miller's best stop with 8:50 left. That's when the Sabres failed to clear the zone and Danny Briere was alone in front of the net. Briere, the former Sabres co-captain, spun, settled the puck, avoided the goalie's poke check then snapped off a solid shot only to be robbed by Miller's glove.

Miller was just as sharp about four minutes later by reaching back with his stick to prevent Mike Richards from slipping in a shot into the open left side after a scramble in front. That stop got the crowd chanting, "Ry-an Mil-ler! Ry-an Mil-ler!"

First Period—1, Buffalo, Pominville 1 (Niedermayer, Ennis), 9:38. Penalties—Weber, Buf (tripping), 5:55; Carcillo, Phi (interference), 10:18; Stafford, Buf (interference), 10:59; Boucher, Phi, served by Briere (tripping), 14:23.

Second Period—None. Penalties—Carcillo, Phi (roughing), 11:39; Miller, Buf, served by Gerbe (roughing), 11:39; Myers, Buf (roughing), 14:19; Philadelphia bench, served by Carcillo (too many men), 17:46; Richards, Phi, major (elbowing), 19:57.

Third Period—None. Penalties—Timonen, Phi (slashing), 20:00; Richards, Phi (roughing), 20:00; Gerbe, Buf (cross-checking), 20:00; Myers, Buf (roughing), 20:00. Shots on Goal—Philadelphia 11-10-11—32. Buffalo 13-8-8—29. Power-play opportunities—Philadelphia 0 of 3; Buffalo 0 of 4. Goalies—Philadelphia, Boucher 2-1-0 (29 shots-28 saves). Buffalo, Miller 2-2-0 (32-32). A—18,690 (18,690).

Ducks get three early in third to even series

NASHVILLE — Corey Perry's short-handed goal 1:17 into the third started a three-goal barrage that gave the Ducks a 6-3 victory over the Predators and a 2-2 series tie.

Tied at 3, the Ducks scored the goals over the first 6:46. Perry, the league's only 50-goal scorer during the regular season, starting it with a backhander from the right circle past Pekka Rinne. Perry set up Ryan Getzlaf's goal at 4:51. Then Brandon McMillan scored to chase Rinne.

Nashville also lost wing Martin Erat, who scored 17 goals in the regular season, in the second after a collision with Anaheim's Jarkko Ruutu. Erat, who lost four teeth in Game 2, lay on the ice for a few minutes and went straight to the locker room. He did not return, and the team said only it was an upper-body injury. Ruutu was called for interference on the play.

First Period—1, Anaheim, Fowler 1 (Perry), 4:41 (pp). 2, Anaheim, Koivu 1 (Blake), 5:14. 3, Nashville, Hornqvist 2 (Kostitsyn, Weber), 5:45. Penalties—O'Brien, Nas (boarding), 4:07; Suter, Nas (slashing), 9:10; Sutton, Ana (tripping), 13:03; Weber, Nas (slashing), 20:00.

Second Period—4, Nashville, Ward 2 (Franson, Sullivan), 5:44 (pp). 5, Anaheim, Selanne 5 (Getzlaf, Fowler), 11:41 (pp). 6, Nashville, Halischuk 1 (Klein, Blum), 14:15. Penalties—Sbisa, Ana (interference), 1:59; Ruutu, Ana (interference), 4:00; Ward, Nas, double minor (high-sticking), 7:59; Getzlaf, Ana (hooking), 15:40; Bonino, Ana (delay of game), 19:28.

Third Period—7, Anaheim, Perry 2 (McMillan), 1:17 (sh). 8, Anaheim, Getzlaf 2 (Perry), 4:51. 9, Anaheim, McMillan 1 (Marchant, Visnovsky), 6:46. Penalties—Tootoo, Nas (roughing), 15:39; Tootoo, Nas, misconduct-game misconduct, 18:12. Shots on Goal—Anaheim 16-9-13—38. Nashville 12-7-3—22. Power-play opportunities—Anaheim 2 of 6; Nashville 1 of 5. Goalies—Anaheim, Emery 2-1-0 (22 shots-19 saves). Nashville, Rinne 2-2-0 (29-23), Lindback (6:46 third, 9-9). A—17,113 (17,113).

Around the league: Capitals wing Mike Knuble sat out Wednesday's game with an undisclosed injury. … Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook, who missed Game 4 with an upper-body injury, traveled to Vancouver. Coach Joel Quenneville said only there was a "possibility" he could play tonight.

Late Wednesday

LOS ANGELES — Devin Setoguchi scored 3:09 into overtime to give the Sharks a 6-5 win over the Kings. San Jose trailed 4-0 in the second, becoming the fourth team in playoff history to overcome a deficit of four or more.

"It's crazy. But before the game, I was looking at the TV. It was one of those History Will Be Made commercials by the NHL," Setoguchi said. "It was about the Kings coming back from 5-0 (to beat the Oilers 6-5 in overtime on April 10, 1982)."

The previous comeback came April 28, 1985, when the North Stars, down 4-0, beat the Blackhawks 5-4 in overtime. The other came April 28, 1971, when the Canadiens, down 5-1, defeated the Bruins 7-5.