Todd White's second goal of the game 2:25 into the second overtime Monday gave Ottawa a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders and a 2-1 series lead for the top-seeded Senators.
The teams split the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Ottawa. The Senators, who won the Presidents' Trophy with 113 points -- 30 more than eighth-seeded New York -- only need to win their remaining two home games to reach the second round for the second successive year.
Chris Phillips also scored for Ottawa, which got 30 saves from Patrick Lalime.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Alexei Yashin and Randy Robitaille scored for New York, which had 29 saves from Garth Snow.
Game 4 is Wednesday on Long Island, and the series returns to Ottawa for Game 5 on Thursday.
Maple Leafs 4, Flyers 3, 2 OT
In Toronto, Tomas Kaberle scored his second goal of the game at 7:20 of the second overtime as Toronto took a 2-1 lead over Philadelphia.
After Toronto's Mats Sundin skated around the back of the net and put a shot on goalie Roman Cechmanek, Kaberle backhanded the rebound in.
Kaberle tied the game at 2-2 in the second period before Alexander Mogilny gave Toronto a 3-2 lead with his fifth goal of the series.
Mark Recchi tied it at 3-3 early in the third period. Kim Johnsson almost won it for the Flyers in the first overtime, but his shot deflected off goalie Ed Belfour's right shoulder and hit the post.
Eric Weinrich and Eric Desjardins gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead in the first 8:02. But Robert Reichel put Toronto back in the game with a goal just 37 seconds after that of Desjardins.
Avalanche 3, Wild 0
In St. Paul, Minnesota, Minnesota's fans waited 11 years for another playoff game, but Patrick Roy was unbeatable as Colorado spoiled the Wild's coming-out party.
In the first playoff game the Twin Cities has hosted since the Dallas Stars were the Minnesota North Stars in 1992, Alex Tanguay's early first-period goal got Colorado going.
The victory gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series. Game 4, also in St. Paul, is Wednesday night. The series shifts back to Denver for Game 5 on Saturday afternoon.
Peter Forsberg had a goal and an assist, while Joe Sakic had a goal for Colorado, which got 18 saves from Roy.
Blues 3, Canucks 1
In St. Louis, Doug Weight had two goals and an assist as a stingy defense helped St. Louis take control of the opening-round series with Vancouver.
The Blues, who also got a goal and an assist from Pavol Demitra, lead the Western Conference series 2-1 heading into Game 4 Wednesday night in St. Louis.
Defenseman Al MacInnis, the Blues' captain, injured his shoulder on a hit by Todd Bertuzzi in the first period of Game 2 and will be out indefinitely. Without his dominating slap shot on the power play, the Blues improvised with a lineup that often featured four left-handed shooters.
Despite the absence of MacInnis, Vancouver was held to 14 shots, the team's lowest total since Feb. 20 at St. Louis, when the Canucks also had 14. Marek Malik scored his first career playoff goal on a second-period power play.
Mighty Ducks 2, Red Wings 1
In Anaheim, California, Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 36 shots and Samuel Pahlsson and Stanislav Chistov scored as Anaheim beat Detroit to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference series.
Last year, the Red Wings came from a 2-0 deficit against Vancouver in the first round to the next four games and make their third Stanley Cup title in six years.
Detroit faces a considerably tougher challenge now -- only two other teams have come back to win series when down 3-0.
Swept by Detroit in their only two previous trips to the postseason, the Ducks need a victory at home in Game 4 on Wednesday night to sweep the Red Wings.
The 25-year-old Giguere saved 97 shots to help the Ducks win the first two games.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB