News

CALGARY – The Calgary Flames knew they would need their goaltending to be superb if they had any chance of knocking off the San Jose Sharks in the playoffs.

CALGARY – Owen Nolan scored the game-winning goal with 3:45 left in the third period as the Calgary Flames overcame a disastrous start Sunday night to come from behind for a dramatic 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

NEW YORK – John Madden scored 6:01 into overtime to get the New Jersey Devils back into their first-round series against the New York Rangers with a 4-3 victory Sunday night.

BOSTON – Marc Savard’s first career playoff goal was the overtime winner as the Boston Bruins downed the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 Sunday to climb back into their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Buffalo Sabres agreed to terms with University of Denver defenceman Chris Butler on Sunday.Butler, Buffalo’s fourth round pick in 2005, just completed his junior season at Denver, where he had three goals and 17 points.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Jose Theodore can’t recall ever playing better than he is right now.Theodore has held the Minnesota Wild scoreless in the first 40 minutes of both games of their first-round series so far and feels locked in, like he can almost anticipate what the shooters are going to do with the puck.

After all their recent playoff failures, the Dallas Stars certainly got a lot more than they hoped in the first two games against Anaheim.”We just wanted to come in and steal one,” captain Brenden Morrow said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The scenery and home-ice advantage has changed. The Nashville Predators’ opinions on the officiating haven’t, even as coach Barry Trotz insists they’re not stewing over what they can’t control.

WASHINGTON – Martin Biron kicked Alex Ovechkin’s power-play wrist shot away in the first period, used the handle of his stick to deflect Alexander Semin’s breakaway attempt in the second, and sprawled on his back while corralling the puck with his left arm to thwart Dave Steckel in the third.

OTTAWA – The dark cloud that has hovered over the Ottawa Senators since mid-season continues to bring the team down with Jason Spezza possibly the latest casualty.

MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens’ immense playoff expectations have whipped the city into a frenzy as fans dream of a Stanley Cup run that will raise another banner to the Bell Centre rafters.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – First-round flops the past three years, the Dallas Stars are on a roll against the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks.

MONTREAL – The buzzword for the Boston Bruins throughout their first round series with the Montreal Canadiens has been discipline, but they didn’t show any when it mattered most.

MONTREAL – Alex Kovalev scored in overtime as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 Saturday and took a 2-0 lead in their opening-round playoff series.

MONTREAL – Alex Kovalev scored in overtime as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 Saturday and took a 2-0 lead in their opening-round playoff series.

DETROIT – At this rate, the Nashville Predators will soon be mumbling about bad bounces and officiating on a golf course.
Detroit’s Kris Draper scored the tiebreaker off an opponent, Nick Lidstrom had a goal when one of his teammates could’ve been called for a penalty and Nashville had a goal waved off.

CALGARY – The car flags can be seen flapping on every main road, fans in Flames jerseys are on every corner, and it seems the fans are just as fired up as the players going into Sunday’s third game between Calgary and San Jose Sharks.

MINNEAPOLIS – Pavol Demitra put one in. Now Minnesota needs Marian Gaborik to get going.The day after directing responsibility for leading the Wild attack toward him and his longtime Slovakian pal, Demitra scored a third-period goal in Game 2 of the Western Conference quarter-final matchup against Colorado to help propel Minnesota to an overtime victory that evened the series.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Ryane Clowe has a swollen, purplish right eyelid with a line of black stitches next to it. Underneath, his socket is yellowed and bruised.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Having done just about everything else for the Washington Capitals – including win his first playoff game with a late third-period goal – Alex Ovechkin assumed the job of correspondent Saturday, taking a microphone and quizzing teammate Mike Green.