Injury Doesn’t Stop Jagr From Winner in Overtime

Jaromir Jagr’s recovery was nearly as miraculous as his play.

Jagr, visibly slowed by a groin injury that sidelined him for four games, scored an electrifying tying goal with 2:12 left in regulation, then won it in overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins staved off playoff elimination by beating the New Jersey Devils, 3-2, Sunday at Pittsburgh.

“It was just unbelievable,” teammate Brad Werenka said of a victory and a memorable one-man show that prolonged the Penguins’ season and, at least temporarily, saved the bankrupt franchise from possible extinction.

Jagr, the NHL scoring champion, was hurting so badly that he could barely stand up on skates before the Devils’ 4-3 victory Friday in Game 5. He talked pessimistically Saturday of playing in Game 6, but became more encouraged after being fitted with scuba diver’s pants that provided more support and partly eased the pain.

“I felt pretty good,” he said. “The new pants held my leg a little tighter and I felt much better when I skated. That’s when I decided to play.”

The series now heads to a climactic Game 7 Tuesday night in New Jersey, a game that seemed improbable when the Devils took a 2-1 lead on Scott Niedermayer’s goal at 4:34 of the third.

With time winding down and the Penguins desperately rushing the net with every opportunity, Jagr carried the puck into the Devils’ zone, then got it back from German Titov to score as Niedermayer left him undefended to cover Titov. It was Jagr’s first goal since his overtime goal in New York two Sundays before ruined Wayne Gretzky’s final NHL game.

Jagr then won it at 8:59 of overtime.

Martin Straka carried the puck down the left wing boards before threading it on the opposite side to Jagr, who beat goaltender Martin Brodeur up high.

St. Louis 5, Phoenix 3--Defenseman Jeff Finley, who scored only one goal in the regular season, broke a third-period tie at St. Louis as the Blues forced Game 7 of their first-round series.

Craig Conroy scored in the first period and added a third-period goal for the Blues, who have won two in a row after falling behind 3-1 in the series. They’ll try to complete the climb and avoid a fourth first-round exit in six seasons on Tuesday night.

Finley had a goal and two assists in 30 regular-season games with the Blues and has only eight goals in 385 career games.

Until this game he also had been one of the Blues’ weak links on defense with a minus-4 for the series.

But he had two big shots in the crucial sequence.

Nikolai Khabibulin stopped Finley’s first drive from the left point, but Pierre Turgeon gathered in the rebound and swept a backhand pass out front. Finley skated in a few strides before blasting the game-winner at 8:59.

Boston 2, Carolina 0--At Boston, the Bruins won their first playoff series in five years behind the goaltending of NHL shutout leader Byron Dafoe.

Joe Thornton and Anson Carter scored as the Bruins completed their comeback from a 2-1 series deficit. Two of those wins came at home, where the Bruins had won only one of their previous 12 playoff games.

Dafoe notched his second playoff shutout after getting 10 in the regular season, both league highs.

Toronto 1, Philadelphia 0--Sergei Berezin scored with 59 seconds left in regulation at Philadelphia as the Maple Leafs became the first team to win a best-of-seven series without scoring at least three goals in any game.

The Maple Leafs scored on a fluke play that sent the Flyers home in the first round for the second consecutive year. Bryan Berard fanned on his shot and then had the puck bounce off defenseman Adam Burt.

It bounced right to Berezin, who shot it past a sprawling John Vanbiesbrouck.