Marian Hossa had a goal and two assists, and the Ottawa Senators overcame a 2-0 deficit by scoring three times in the second period of a 4-2 victory on Friday night over the Philadelphia Flyers in the opening game of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Senators, playing for the first time in eight days, rallied on goals by Hossa, Martin Havlat and Daniel Alfredsson to win their fifth consecutive postseason game. Zdeno Chara also scored and added an assist for top-seeded Ottawa, which won its quarterfinal series against the New York Islanders in five games.
PHOTO: AP
After eliminating Toronto in a seventh game on Tuesday night, Philadelphia was looking to avenge its embarrassing loss to Ottawa in the first round a year ago. The Flyers were shut out three times by Patrick Lalime and scored just two goals in five games.
They matched that in just 11 minutes on Friday night, getting goals from Tony Amonte and Sami Kapanen on their first two shots. But Lalime settled down and finished with 23 saves.
Late in the third period, he came far out of the net to clear a loose puck and was knocked to the ice by Claude Lapointe. Lalime was down for about two minutes, but returned to the net and finished the game without a problem.
Bryan Smolinski had a pair of assists for the Senators, who took the lead on Alfredsson's goal against Roman Cechmanek at 9:32 of the second period.
Game 2 is tonight in Ottawa.
Cechmanek was shaky, making just 13 saves as Ottawa rallied from a two-goal deficit for the first time in its playoff history.
Canucks 4, Wild 3, OT
In Vancouver, British Columbia, the Canucks' Matt Cooke tied the game with 1.2 seconds left in regulation, and Trent Klatt scored a power-play goal 3:42 into overtime as Vancouver beat Minnesota in opener of their second-round series.
With Lubomir Sekeras off for high sticking Henrik Sedin, former University of Minnesota star Klatt planted himself in the crease and deflected Daniel Sedin's shot past Manny Fernandez.
Wes Walz broke a 1-1 tie with two goals -- both on passes from Marian Gaborik -- in the first 8:11 of the third period. But Markus Naslund's fifth goal in as many games pulled the Canucks within one midway through the period.
Cooke tied it after Todd Bertuzzi won a faceoff with 8.7 seconds left.
Naslund threw a long backhander on the net, and Cooke banged his first goal of the payoffs past Fernandez in the enduing scramble.
Game 2 is tonight in Vancouver.
Ed Jovanovski also scored for the Canucks, who have won four straight after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to knock St. Louis out in the first round.
Sergei Zholtok scored a power-play goal for the Wild, and from Fernandez made 34 saves.
It was the third straight overtime game for the Wild, who won the last two to knock Colorado out of the first round.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set