The Rangers scored three goals on just seven shots in the first period and held on late for a 5-3 win over the Devils. The victory puts them into the second round of the Playoffs. The Rangers went 11-1-1 overall against NJ this year.
New York trailed for a grand total of 18 seconds last night. After that Michal Rozsival, Jaromir Jagr, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury scored for the Rangers. Bryce Salvador and Patrik Elias scored to make it 4-3, but the Devils couldn’t get it tied, even after John Madden was awarded a penalty shot a little more than halfway through the third. Brandon Dubinsky added an empty-netter with a minute to go to seal the Devils fate.
The Red Wings beat Nashville 2-1 in OT to take a 3-2 series lead. Valtteri Filppula gave Detroit a 1-0 lead with a shot that just snuck into the corner of the net before bouncing out. Officials ruled it a goal and the video review upheld the call. That goal (4:20 into the first) looked like it would hold up as Chris Osgood kept the Preds scoreless. But Radek Bonk managed to score with 43+ seconds left. However, it only took 1:48 of extra time for Johan Franzen to backhand the puck past Dan Ellis for the win. Niklas Kronvall assisted on both tallies (Franzen also picked up an assist on Filpulla’s goal).
The home team has now won every game in the series. Nashville is 0-10 all-time on the road in the Playoffs.
The Anaheim Ducks stayed alive with a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars. Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne and Sean O’Donnell beat Marty Turco; Todd Marchant added an empty-netter. Mattias Norstrom and Mike Rebeiro scored for the Stars.
