Canadiens rally, top Flyers in OT
Tom Kostopoulos scored 48 seconds into overtime to give the Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers last night in the opening game of their second-round series in Montreal.
Kostopoulos put his own rebound past Martin Biron shortly after a faceoff in Philadelphia's zone for his third goal of the playoffs.
Alex Kovalev drew Montreal even with 28.6 seconds remaining in regulation, scoring a power-play goal off a faceoff with goalie Carey Price pulled for an extra attacker. Flyers center Jeff Carter's stick broke as he lost the faceoff to Saku Koivu, and Kovalev beat Biron to the top right corner.
"It was a weird game for us," said Kostopoulos. "We were expecting such intensity with both teams coming off the big Game 7s and I think it was a hard game for everyone to get into, for the crowd to get into.
"Lucky enough Koivu got that nice faceoff and Kovalev put it in to bail us out and we got the lucky bounce in overtime."
Joffrey Lupul scored a power-play goal 19 seconds into the third to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead.
Lupul, who scored Philadelphia's series-winning goal in overtime Tuesday night in Washington, got his second of the playoffs - after a brief video review - when the puck came out of Price's glove and hit Lupul's hand before going into the net off the Flyers forward's skate.
Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau kept Price on the bench for a sixth attacker as Montreal began a power play in the Flyers' zone with 1:09 remaining after Philadelphia's Mike Richards was sent off for kneeing Kovalev. The strategy ultimately paid off as Kovalev scored his third of the playoffs.
R.J. Umberger and Jim Dowd scored in the first to give Philadelphia a 2-0 lead.
Andrei Kostitsyn and Kovalev tied it at 2 when they scored in the second for Montreal, which won all four meetings between the teams during the regular season.
Price stopped 30 shots in the first playoff meeting between the teams in 19 years, the fifth overall. Biron also made 30 saves.
Red Wings 4, Avalanche 3 - Johan Franzen scored two goals and had an assist to help host Detroit build a three-goal cushion, and the Red Wings held on to win Game 1 of their second-round series.
Franzen's second goal early in the second put Detroit ahead, 4-1, but Colorado pulled within a goal by the end of the period.
The Avalanche pulled Jose Theodore after he gave up four goals on 16 shots, then said they sent him to the team hotel because he was sick. Peter Budaj gave the Avalanche a chance, stopping all 20 shots he faced.
Colorado's Paul Stastny scored midway through the first period, but the lead didn't last long.
Henrik Zetterberg lit the lamp a minute later, then Franzen factored in the next three goals by assisting on Dan Cleary's goal and scoring twice.
John-Michael Liles scored at 5:17 of the second for Colorado, and Milan Hejduk scored late in the period to make it 4-3.
The Avalanche played without Peter Forsberg (groin) and lost Wojtek Wolski to an upper-body injury.
