Sabres stun Senators on Drury's OT strike
Chris Drury figured it wouldn't take long to settle this shootout.
Drury scored 18 seconds into overtime after Tim Connolly netted his second goal of the night with 10.7 seconds remaining in regulation and the Buffalo Sabres stunned the host Ottawa Senators with a 7-6 victory last night in a wild Eastern Conference semifinal opener.
''Down the stretch, it was pretty amazing how many goals were scored," Drury said. ''Sitting in the locker room you had the feeling it was going to be a quick end."
The teams scored three goals in the final 1:37 of regulation as Buffalo's Derek Roy tied it at 5-5 with a shorthanded effort for his second goal of the game -- his team-record tying fifth point -- at 18:23. But Bryan Smolinski scored his second goal 24 seconds later during the same power play to give Ottawa its fifth straight lead, 6-5.
''It wasn't your typical playoff game," Roy said.
The Sabres pressed for one more, and Connolly got it as he swept a puck that lay within Ray Emery's reach up and over the rookie goalie to shock the sellout crowd.
''We weren't going to give up," Connolly said. ''We came back a few times during the hockey game and we've been able to come back all year long and we're never going to give up until the game's over, and I think that's a credit to this hockey team."
The winning goal was truly sudden as Drury beat Emery with a shot from the left circle.
''We couldn't play worse and we still had a chance to win it," Senators coach Bryan Murray said. ''I'm disappointed. We were so sloppy with the puck."
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series won't be until Monday because the arena is unavailable over the weekend.
Five of the game's 13 goals were scored within the first or last minute of a period.
Mike Fisher set a Senators record for the fastest playoff goal from the start of a period when he scored 16 seconds into the third to make it 5-4.
Jason Spezza and Bryan Smolinski scored 15 seconds apart early in the second, setting a Senators record for fastest two playoff goals.
Martin Havlat and Dany Heatley each had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, which led the NHL with 314 goals this season.
Mighty Ducks 5, Avalanche 0 -- Teemu Selanne had a goal and two assists in Anaheim's four-goal second period as the host Mighty Ducks cruised in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series.
Game 2 is tomorrow afternoon, also at Anaheim, Calif.
The Mighty Ducks didn't figure to have home ice after finishing sixth in the conference, but all the underdogs in the West advanced past the first round, and the Ducks took advantage.
Samuel Pahlsson scored at 2:38 of the second period and Chris Kunitz gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead just under eight minutes later, then the Avalanche fell apart in the final minute of the period, allowing two goals in 49 seconds that put them behind, 4-0.
Ilya Bryzgalov had 29 saves for the Ducks.
