NHL Playoffs Roundup : Bruins Eliminate Sabres

When the Buffalo Sabres trounced the Boston Bruins, 6-0, at Boston in the first game of their playoff series, it looked as if a sweep was in the making.

The Bruins, who were 0-5-3 against the Sabres during the regular season, looked pitiful in the playoff opener.

But Boston regrouped behind Cam Neely as the resurgent Bruins won four in a row.

Tuesday night at Boston, Randy Burridge scored a short-handed goal in the second period, but it was Neely who applied the clincher in a 4-1 victory.

Neely’s fifth goal, with 6:56 remaining in the second period, gave the Bruins a 3-0 lead. With Andy Moog playing his third consecutive solid game in the nets, it was all over. Twice earlier in the series, Neely scored the game-winner.

“My question to the players (after the opener) was, if it’s important to you, you have to play like you want it,” Coach Terry O’Reilly said. “They did.”

The Bruins, who finished second in the Adams Division, will meet the Montreal Canadiens, the division winner, in the next best-of-seven series. It will not begin until Monday. Last year the Bruins knocked out the Canadiens in the second round and made it to the Stanley Cup final.

The Sabres began to lose some of their offensive thrust when Christian Ruttu suffered a shoulder injury in the second period of Game 2 and never returned.

“We shut down their offense pretty well in the last three games,” Reilly said.

Philadelphia 8, Washington 5--In helping his Flyers take a 3-2 lead in the series, Ron Hextall made history when he became the first goaltender to score a goal in Stanley Cup competition.

Two late goals by Pelle Eklund had given the Flyers a 7-5 lead at Landover, Md. But the desperate Capitals were working on a power play and pulled goalie Pete Peeters.

Hextall stopped the puck behind the net, skated to the goal line and fired the puck at the empty net. Nobody touched it and into the net it went.

Hextall, who has made a career of handling the puck well up the ice, was the first goalie in NHL regular season to score a goal, too. He did it, in similar fashion against Boston, Dec. 8, 1987.

The sixth game will be played at Philadelphia Thursday night.

St. Louis 6, Minnesota 1--The Blues also moved into the second round of Stanley Cup competition by whipping the North Stars, four games to one.

Peter Zezel made this one at St. Louis the easiest win of all. He scored three goals and had two assists. Two of the goals and an assist came in a four-goal outburst in the second period. He completed the hat trick in the third period.

The Blues won the first two games at home in overtime, then scored a 5-3 victory at Minnesota before losing Sunday night.

Calgary 4, Vancouver 0--Goaltender Mike Vernon decided to take matters into his own hands as this series returned to Calgary. On home ice, he was flawless, stopping 18 shots.

For the first time in this series, the Flames resembled the team that posted the best record in the league during the regular season.

They outplayed the Canucks from the start to take a 3-2 series lead. They can clinch it with a win at Vancouver Thursday night.

Joe Nieuwendyk, with his third playoff goal, gave Vernon all the help he really needed before the game was six minutes old. But the Flames never took the pressure off.

Joe Mullen, Mark Hunter and Hakan Loob, who assisted on the first goal, added goals and kept making it a little easier for Vernon.

Detroit 6, Chicago 4--Petr Klima and John Chabot scored 59 seconds apart in the third period at Detroit to keep the Red Wings’ playoff hopes alive.

The Blackhawks, who led, 4-3, before Klima scored at 7:23, lead the series, 3-2, and can wrap it up Thursday night at Chicago.

The Red Wings are trying to become only the sixth team in Stanley Cup history to win a series after trailing, 3-1.

The Wings beat goaltender Alain Chevrier, who had a 3-0 record against them after the Blackhawks acquired him from Winnipeg late in the season.