Penguins reach playoffs after six-year march
WASHINGTON: Ryan Whitney scored two second-period goals to lead Pittsburgh past the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Tuesday, and put the Penguins in the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2001.
Whitney scored the second and fourth Penguins goals, but it was Sidney Crosby's second-period goal past a stickless Olaf Kolzig that was the most memorable.
Crosby, the NHL's leading scorer with 113 points, took the puck behind the net and tipped it past the sprawling Kolzig to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 6:21 of the second period. Moments before, the Penguins' Gary Roberts slammed into Washington's goalie causing Kolzig's stick to sputter out of his hand.
At Montreal, Alex Kovalev got his second straight two-goal game as Montreal scored five unanswered goals in the second period to beat New York 6-4.
Kovalev scored a pair of power-play goals to key the outburst which drove Rangers starter Henrik Lundqvist from the net - to the delight of the sold-out Bell Centre crowd of 21,273 - midway through the second period after he allowed four goals within 7:30.
Steve Begin, Michael Ryder and Tomas Plekanec also scored in the second for Montreal, which trailed 2-0 after the first. Saku Koivu added four assists.
Mark Streit got the Canadiens' sixth goal 13:03 into the third after Thomas Pock and Matt Cullen scored goals 1:15 apart earlier in the period to draw New York within 5-4.
At Nashville, Tennessee, J.P. Dumont scored a goal and had two assists, and Nashville held off Edmonton and moved out of a tie with Buffalo and Detroit at the top of the NHL.
Patrice Bergeron and Petr Kalus also scored for Boston while Joey MacDonald stopped 32 shots for his third win of the year.
Dany Heatley and Mike Fisher scored for Ottawa. Ray Emery had 14 saves. At Tampa, Florida, Olli Jokinen had a goal and two assists, and Ed Belfour stopped 27 shots to lead Florida.
Jokinen has six goals and seven assists in his past five games. He shares second place with Pavel Bure on the franchise goal-scoring list with 152.
At St. Louis, Fredrik Modin scored twice and Fredrik Norrena stopped 19 shots, helping Columbus beat St. Louis 4-1.
Agencies
(China Daily 03/29/2007 page24)
