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Pavel gossip line
After 18 months of negotiations, the Canucks announced the signing of Pavel Bure to a six year contract, retroactive to the 1993-94 season. The deal is worth approximately $us25 million and provides for marketing rights and a job for his father. Pavel Bure receives a $2.5 million raise for 1993-94, $3.5 million for the 1994-95 season and escalates to $5 million in it's final year. "I know it's huge money", says Pavel. "I never dreamed about something like this. I worked hard for 16 years to get to this point and I'm really excited that I will be spending lots of years here in Vancouver."
Curse Closed THE MOMENT came. Finally. The 54-year-old curse ended and it was magic.
The scoreboard, frozen at 0:00, showed Rangers 3, Canucks 2. Fireworks exploded, and Madison Square Garden quivered with cheers of 18,200 people who have waited a generation to take in this scene. Mark Messier, the captain, held aloft the Stanley Cup for the sixth time in his illustrious career, for the first time as a Ranger. After three years, his mission was successful. He handed it over the bench to Mike Keenan. Then Messier skated slowly around the ice, and the Cup was passed to Kevin Lowe, then Brian Leetch and Adam Graves. When it came to Mike Richter, he puckered his lips and gave the silver chalice a golden kiss. No more 1940. No more pain. The Rangers are Stanley Cup champions. In the lounge adjacent to the locker room, away from the champagne bedlam only 50 feet away, Messier grabbed Keenan and took him aside. "That was the most powerful speech I've ever heard," he said, looking at his coach. "You should be proud of yourself." Keenan's 15-minute speech was delivered the day before, when the Rangers needed reassurance. They had blown two games and allowed the Canucks to tie the series 3-3. "He sort of brought us back to square one," Kevin Lowe said. He reminded us where we came from." Keenan doused himself in Evian, awash in amazement, in pride. Winning the Stanley Cup, which he did after three unsuccessful tries, "is the hardest thing you could ever imagine," he said. "It's incredible. You have to go through hell to win it. Emotionally, psychologically, physically." And in that room, Keenan said he would be back to coach the Rangers next season, with a provision: "if they'll have me." This game wasn't for the faint of heart, as Messier had predicted a day earlier. Are they ever with this crew? The Garden should have armed itself with EMTs at every exit during Game 7 against the Devils. Last night offered nearly as much. It took the Rangers three faceoffs, after icing calls in the final 38.7 seconds, to finally win it. Messier took the first two, Craig MacTavish -the expert in all this -the last one with 1.1 seconds. Richter, who was brilliant throughout in stopping 28 shots, said he realized only then what it all meant. "With 1.1 seconds left, I started thinking we had a chance," he said. "It's overwhelming. This is the greatest group of characters and the hardest-working players." With the Rangers leading 3-1 in the third, the Canucks refused to fold. Esa Tikkanen was penalized for hooking Bure at 4:16, and 34 seconds later the visitors were within one. Cliff Ronning fed the always dangerous Geoff Courtnall to the right of the slot, and he spied Trevor Linden at the left post. Suddenly, Linden had his second of the night and 12th of the playoffs. Richter redeemed himself soon after, kicking away a slapper by Nathan Lafayette and allowing MacTavish to clear the rebound. But 3-2 is no comfort. Kevin Lowe became a hero when he cleared away a floating puck after Martin Gelinas had Richter beat from the right side. It just wouldn't end. Lafayette clanged a shot off the post from in front, and then five minutes remained. The Rangers' defense, which usually got shaky about this point, held. With 37.8 seconds left, the Canucks pulled McLean and there was a faceoff in the Rangers' zone. The Rangers were called for icing, and on the next possession, Richter had make a kick save through traffic on a long shot by Bure. Steve Larmer picked up the puck and cleared it, and with 1.1 seconds left in the season, it was icing again. The last faceoff. MacTavish beat Bure. And that was it. The Garden fans, who once again paid $1,000 or more for their precious seats, were more than a bit nervous after watching their team collapse in Game 5. There was a decided edge to their high, even as the cheering exceeded Boeing 747 decibel levels. "There are 23 million people in New York who have dialed a nine and a one, and now they're waiting to see if they have to dial another one," Glenn Healy said before the game. They never had to push the button. The Rangers burst out in the first period with a goal by Leetch, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, and Graves, who hadn't scored a goal in the finals. As each scoreless minute ticked away at the start of the game, the tension mounted. It was all but imperative the Rangers keep the crowd in the game by scoring the first goal, something they couldn't do in Game 5. Finally, at 11:02, they did, and it was a beauty. Messier evaded Pavel Bure down the right boards, started back toward the blue line and found Sergei Zubov, the trailer, at the right circle. Zubov faked a shot, then zipped a pass across the slot to Leetch, who had skated unchecked to the top of the left circle. With goalie Kirk McLean down, Leetch lifted a wrist shot top shelf to give him 11 goals, one shy of Paul Coffey's record for a defenseman in the playoffs. That was the first time the Rangers have scored the first goal in the past three games. Then, on the Rangers' first power play, with Jyrki Lumme off for cross-checking Craig MacTavish on the end boards, they pulled off another crisp play. Zubov was tripped at the blueline by Jeff Brown, but the puck squirted to Alexei Kovalev at the left circle. He passed it to Graves in the slot, and the 52-goal scorer in the regular season wristed a shot into the upper left corner at 14:45. Graves had not scored a goal in the six games before this one. Somehow, the stars began to align. "They just came at us so hard tonight that we didn't respond to it," Geoff Courtnall said. "They got to all of the loose pucks and I think that was the difference." The Canucks finally put themselves on the board in the second period during a Rangers power play and a delayed penalty that never came to be. After Shawn Antoski leveled Jeff Beukeboom at center ice, Trevor Linden fought off Leetch and flipped a shorthanded backhander past Richter at 5:21 for his second goal of the finals. That pulled them within a goal, but it didn't last. On the Rangers' third power play, with Canucks defenseman Dave Babych in the box for tripping Larmer, Messier was camped at the left post when he punched in a Graves rebound at 13:29, his 12th goal of the playoffs. It was 3-1, then Richter made a trio of huge saves on Cliff Ronning, Adams and Courtnall. Linden broke through in the third, but the Canucks were not the team of destiny. Everything, the entire season, came together last night for the Rangers. In the end, all New York could feel it. The Garden shook. Fifty-four years of agony swept away. In unison, the crowd chanted: "Nineteen-Ninety-Four." "I was hoping they would do that," Lowe said. "I was sick and tired of hearing Nine-teen For-ty." The Rangers will hear it no more.
Stanley Cup Final Jeff Brown, who scored two goals in Game Six: "This is unbelievable. But this is what it's all about. I'm glad we're playing hockey in the middle of June. A week ago, it didn't look so good for us, but we never lost hope, and now we're in a Game 7 situation where anything can happen." Kirk McLean: "This is something you dream about as a kid. It's a one-game situation. You couldn't ask for anything more." Bret Hedican: "In the locker room before the fifth game in New York, I could sense the same feeling that we had in the Calgary series. It was just a feeling. This team doesn't quit. No one expected us to win the fifth game. Everyone wrote us off, and here we are." "There are 23 million people in New York who have dialed a nine and a one, and now they're waiting to see if they have to dial another one." Glenn Healy said before the game. Mark Messier's first significant play had him plowing down the ice, and passing to Sergei Zubov. Zubov gave Brian Leetch, appointed temporary captaincy by Mike Keenan for the game, a cross ice pass after Leetch had snuck in from the neutral zone and fired his shot from the right faceoff circle. Kirk McLean, tangled up with Graves in the crease, was forced to go crease to crease on the quick shot by Leetch, and McLean was unable to make the impossible save (well, no save is impossible if you have seen Leetch's goal blew the lid off the house when his put the Rangers up 1-0 at the 11:02 mark. Only four minutes later, Jyrki Lumme was given a cross checking penalty on Craig MacTavish. Sergei Zubov chipped the puck as he was tripped through the legs of Craven and Brown to give Adam Graves and Alexei Kovalev a two on one. Bret Hedican was back for the Canucks. Kovalev slipped the puck to Graves, who wired the puck through the legs of McLean. The Rangers now had a 2-0 nearing the 15 minute mark of the first period. The shots were 12-9 in favour of the Rangers. At 4:38 of the second period, Jeff Brown was handed an interference penalty. It looked bad for the Canucks, but it wouldn't turn out that way. Rarely used Shawn Antoski, nailed Jeff Beukeboom at centre ice. Receiving the puck off his own skates from Brian Glynn, breaking in on a partial breakaway down the left wing, Trevor Linden fought off the check of Brian Leetch. He flipped a perfect backhander into the back of the net past Mike Richter. At 5:21, the game was now 2-1. Richter was then forced to make spectacular saves of Cliff Ronning, Geoff Courtnall and Greg Adams. As well, late in the period Pavel Bure was stoned on a clever individual effort, fooling everyone on the Rangers except Richter. After Brian Leetch gave away the puck, Greg Adams scooped up the puck, and his chance went inches wide of the post. Pavel Bure skated hard towards the boards to pick up the puck, then skated and circled around the net pulling Mike Richter well out of position. When he got his shot away from the left faceoff circle, it was blocked by Beukeboom and piddled through the goal crease. With Dave Babych in the penalty box for trpping Steve Larmer, McLean was forced to make power play saves on Adam Graves and Sergei Zubov, before Mark Messier put in the rebound at 13:29. The shots were 14-12 in favur of the Rangers. With the Canucks down 3-1, they needed a spark to start the flame. With Esa Tikkanen in the box for hooking in the fourth minute, Cliff Ronning passed to Geoff Courtnall cross ice on the right of the slot, who in turn fed Linden on the left post. Linden easily one timed the pass into the back of the net. The game was now 3-2 with 15 minutes to play. Soon after the Linden goal, he nearly completed the hat trick when Richter kicked out the puck with his skate, and he got a pad on a Nathan Lafayette slap shot, giving the rebound to Craig MacTavish. Soon after, Kevin Lowe saved the day when he sweeped the puck away after Martin Gelinas had the entire right side of the goal open. Minutes later, Cliff Ronning got the puck in the slot, but couldn't put any oomph on the shot because he was secretly playing with a broken hand. Six minutes later, Geoff Courtnall found Nathan Lafayette with a picture perfect pass. Lafayette beat Richter cleanly, but the puck clanged off the goal post. The Canucks kept pressing like there was no tomorrow, which there wasn't, but the Lafayette shot was as close as they would come. With 39 seconds left in the game and McLean on the bench, the Rangers continually iced the puck. Messier took the first two faceoffs and won them, before Craig MacTavish won the final draw with 1.1 seconds left, and the puck slid harmlessly into the left corner. The season was over.
Rangers, at Last 3-2 Win Over Canucks Ends Frustration The curse is over. The New York Rangers exorcised the demons that have haunted them for 54 years, beating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 Tuesday in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers last won the National Hockey League championship in 1940, two years before New York Americans owner and coach Red Dutton was said to have put on the curse that had dogged them until Tuesday. After the Rangers had run the Americans out of the old Madison Square Garden, Dutton had said they would never win the Stanley Cup in his lifetime. He died six years ago at age 88, but family members refused to lift the "curse." No matter. The Rangers did it themselves, sending the madhouse at Eighth Avenue and 34th Street into a frenzy. "I said before the game, `Let's go slay the dragon,' " the Rangers' Mark Messier said. Once they did, the sellout crowd of 18,500 burst forth in a spontaneous chant of "19-40, 19-40," taunting the curse with the chant as opposing fans had taunted the Rangers. They then chanted "19-94, 19-94," the Rangers' new rallying cry. After the traditional postgame handshake with the Canucks, Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. Then the fans chanted "We want the Cup" before NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman awarded it to Messier. "We did it, we did it," Leetch told Rangers coach Mike Keenan during the celebration. The Cup was the first in four tries for Keenan as a coach. "I feel very fortunate to have had four opportunities," Keenan said. "It's a privilege to have an opportunity to win the Cup." Leetch, Adam Graves and Messier scored the Rangers' goals, with Messier being credited with the winner at 13:29 of the second period. Vancouver captain Trevor Linden scored both goals for the Canucks. The Canucks were one of two on the power play, and the Rangers were two of three with the man advantage. At the start of the game, it was anything goes, and the emotionally charged Rangers fans loved every minute of it. The atmosphere at Madison Square Garden was electric, and the fans nearly blew the roof off the building when Leetch scored the game's first goal, at 11:02. Leetch, appointed captain for the game by Keenan, sneaked in on left wing and put the puck past diving goaltender Kirk McLean after a cross-ice pass from Sergei Zubov. Zubov had held the puck so long on right wing that McLean had to respect his shot. Messier set up the play, flying past Pavel Bure along the right wing boards and drawing two men to him to create an odd-man situation down low. Jyrki Lumme's cross-check on Craig MacTavish gave the Rangers a power play that they converted into a 2-0 lead. Zubov poked the puck between Jeff Brown and Murray Craven at the blue line to create a two-on-one for Alexei Kovalev and Graves against Bret Hedican. Hedican moved to intercept Kovalev, who centered the puck to Graves in the slot. At point-blank range, Graves snapped a wrist shot that beat McLean low to the stick side at 14:45. The goal was Graves' first of the series. Bure nearly got the Canucks on the board with a brilliant individual effort late in the period. After Leetch's giveaway, Greg Adams fired a shot that trickled just wide, and Bure pulled the rebound out of a crowd along the left wing boards. Bure skated hard behind the net, circled in front and pulled goaltender Mike Richter out of position. When he finally shot from the left circle, Jeff Beukeboom blocked the shot and Bure's rebound trickled through the goal crease. The Rangers dominated the early part of the second period, and when Brown drew a penalty for interfering with Messier, things looked bleak for the Canucks. But Zubov slashed Bure, drawing a delayed penalty. McLean skated off for the sixth attacker and play continued. Bure carried the puck back into the Canucks' zone to regroup and then sent the puck ahead to Brian Glynn. Glynn side-stepped Beukeboom's check and sent in Linden on the left wing. Linden beat Leetch with a power move to the net and flipped the puck past Richter to cut the lead to 2-1 at 5:21. Gregson called another penalty on the Canucks, sending Babych off for tripping Steve Larmer, and the Rangers scored their second power- play goal of the game to restore their two-goal lead. McLean stopped successive shots by Graves and Zubov, before Messier tapped in the rebound at 13:29. Richter came up with two big stops on Cliff Ronning late in the period and turned aside Adams' stuff attempt with the Canucks on the power play after Messier hooked Hedican. Linden's power-play goal, with Geoff Courtnall and Ronning assisting, cut the lead to 3-2, and Rangers fans feared the worst. But fate was on their side as Martin Gelinas and Nathan LaFayette hit the goal post in the final minutes.
Going to the Wire RED DUTTON caught a flight in from heaven and kept alive his beloved Curse. The Rangers were forced into Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals last night because for the second consecutive game, they couldn't finish off the resilient Canucks. This time they lost 4-1, and somewhere in the catwalks of Pacific Coliseum, Dutton is cackling. Dutton, the owner of the New York Americans, vowed in 1946 that the Rangers would never win another Stanley Cup in his lifetime after they kept the Americans out of Madison Square Garden and the NHL . So far, his prediction is dead-on. And for the Rangers, the agony keeps going and going . . . When the horn went off, a few brave Canucks fans leaped onto the ice. One guy slid about 40 feet on his knees, pumping his arms in the air as toilet paper and cups of soda rained down and fireworks filled the building. Throughout the game, the scoreboard flashed this message: "New York City - Not Your Cup." The 1994 Rangers, however, choose to look at Game 7 in the best of lights. They hope that Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, all of the red ones will be illuminated in their favor. "Nobody puts more pressure on us than ourselves, don't worry about that," said Mark Messier, who assisted on Alexei Kovalev's lone Ranger goal at 14:42 of the second period. "It's one game. I'm confident in the team, confident in the players. We all have to play our best game. We have two days to think about it and get ourselves fired up." Surely, the Canucks will be flying, as they were last night. Jeff Brown and Geoff Courtnall each scored twice, giving them a total of seven goals in the last two games. Courtnall scored the game-winner at 12:29 of the second period, a backhander from in close that glanced off Doug Lidster's skate and dribbled past the goal line before Mike Richter covered the puck with his glove. Richter (27 saves) kept his team in the game until Brown's unassisted slap shot from the right circle connected at 8:35 of the third period to make it 3-1. Courtnall found daylight on a backhander that hit the crossbar and ducked underneath with 1:32 left in the game. The Canucks relaxed, but the goal light never went on and Messier ended up scoring at the other end, seemingly to make it 3-2. But referee Bill McCreary asked the video judge to review Courtnall's shot, and he said it was a goal, wiping out Messier's shot and making it 4-1. "That's the rules," Messier said. "There's no argument about it." For the second straight game, the Canucks pasted the Rangers with the body and kept up the offensive pressure while the Rangers' defense fought to keep up. "We haven't had as many rushes and as much play in their zone," Brian Leetch said. "They are the ones doing the breaking up and throwing it back in our end. The type of hockey that we would actually like to play is what they have been able to do to us early." The Rangers suffered probably their worst first period of the finals. The Canucks bullied them and outshot them 16-7, with Richter left alone, flopping at the goalmouth. It could have been 5-0 by the end of 20 minutes, but he allowed only Brown's power-play slapper off Trevor Linden's faceoff at 9:42. "We tried to go out there and get some hits and stir things up and get guys [ticked] off at me, and sometimes it works," Courtnall said. "If I'm not scoring goals, then I can distract some of their better players. I still feel I'm doing a pretty good job for my team." In the second period, the Rangers began to pick it up a bit. Glenn Anderson hit the crossbar during a three-on-one at 10:36 and thought it was in. He raised his arms for five seconds before realizing it didn't count. A video replay showed the puck had indeed gone off the crossbar and not into the net. Minutes later, Kovalev and Steve Larmer had a two-on-one, but Kirk McLean (28 saves) stood his ground and stopped Larmer's wrist shot from the right side. Another Rangers chance thwarted. At 12:29 Courtnall made it 2-0 at the tail end of a gorgeous tic-tac-toe play in which Pavel Bure fed Jyrki Lumme in the neutral zone and the defenseman passed to Courtnall, who rode with Lidster into the crease and slid the puck past Richter. Kovalev finally scored on the power play at 14:42, a wrist shot from the right circle that changed direction when it hit Murray Craven's stick. It was Kovalev's ninth goal of the playoffs, and suddenly the Rangers looked to threaten. But on this night, the Canucks wouldn't let up. Brown scored his second goal, then Courtnall added his second , and the Canucks were heading to New York a third time. "You have to give them credit for their success," said Mike Keenan, who complained about the Canucks' power-play advantage throughout the series, even though they had one fewer last night. "I don't want it to sound like an excuse but it makes a big difference." The Rangers say they're looking forward to returning to Madison Square Garden for a seventh game. "It's hockey in its simplest terms," Craig MacTavish said. "You win one game, you win the Stanley Cup." They know they've been beaten twice at home in the finals. But they've also pulled off their biggest victory there when Stephane Matteau scored in double overtime of Game 7 to make the Devils disappear. Does New York City still believe? Some people are beginning to wonder. The fans are cringing. "That's too bad," MacTavish said. "That's the way it is. They have a right to do that, but it's going to make it that much sweeter when it happens."
Notes & Quotes: Leetch is attempting to become the second defenseman in NHL history, after the Flames' Al MacInnis in 1989 (31 points in 22 games), to finish the playoffs as the league's scoring leader. He added an assist last night to give him 33 points. He has 57 points in his playoff career, tying Don Maloney for second place on the Rangers' all-time list . . . Only two Stanley Cup finals have gone to the seven-game limit since the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams in 1967-68. In 1971, the Canadiens won Game 7 in Chicago, 3-2, and in 1987 the Oilers defeated the Flyers, 3-1, in Game 7 in Edmonton . . . The home-team record in Game 7 of the finals is 7-2.
Stanley Cup Final Game Six has oftened been declared the best game in Canucks history. To CKNW play by play man Jim Robson, it was his all time favourite game. To Canucks owner Arthur Griffiths, it was the best game ever played in Pacific Coliseum. They weren't exaggerating by any means. As Bill Murray said in Ghostbusters, "Human sacrifice... dogs and cats, living together.... MASS HYSTERIA!" Canucks statistician Evan Morgan said, "You can feel the sound vibrating in your chest." The Canucks came out flying, and threw the weight around. Leetch was being tossed all over the ice. The first period shot total was 16-7 in favour of Vancouver. The Rangers took a penalty out of selfish frustration, and the Canucks delivered. Jeff Brown scored on the power play with a blistering slap shot off a Linden face off win, to give the hometown club the 1-0 lead at 9:42 going into the first intermission. Mike Richter was brilliant, and he was the only reason the Canucks weren't owning the game in terms of the score. The Rangers began to play in the second period, as on a three on one, Glenn Anderson dinged one off the crossbar. Video replay was needed to prove a goal did not occur. Later, Larmer and Kovalev had a two on one, but Kirk McLean was equal to the challenge. Midway through the second, Pavel Bure, Jyrki Lumme and Geoff Courtnall met up for a lovely tic tac toe play. Bure passed to Lumme at centre ice, and Lumme hit Courtnall, who fought off Doug Lidster and slid the puck into the goal, giving the Canuck club the 2-0 lead at the twelve minute mark. Alexei Kovalev scored to cut the lead to 2-1, when his wrist shot deflected off the stick of Murray Craven and into the goal cage. The game was still 2-1 when Brian Leetch attempted a pass from deep in his zone that Jeff Brown intercepted, and wired it into the goal past a flurry of Rangers players. As the clock's time ticked away, CBC commentator Harry Neale (and former Canucks coach of the '82 Playoff Run noted perfectly, "The Stanley Cup is a slippery trophy isn't it? And it may be slipping through the hands of the New York Rangers." 2 minutes left in the game found Nathan Lafayette throw the puck past Jeff Beukeboom to Geoff Courtnall, who cut to the slot. Richter was fooled by the Lafayette pass, and was out of position. Courtnall threw a high backhander at the net that hit the inside crossbar and appeared to have scored Vancouver's fourth goal of the night. Vancouver celebrated, the red-light came on, but play continued. Bure winged a shot wide, and Brian Leetch found the puck and darted down the ice. Leetch hit Glenn Anderson at the Canucks' blueline, who passed to the crease where Mark Messier tucked the puck into the corner of the goal behind McLean. Justifiably, the Canucks protested, and ref Bill McCreary went upstairs. If the Canucks goal stood, it would ice the victory 4-1. But if it was disallowed, the score would be 3-2 with just over a minute to play. It was tense on television, tense on the radio, and virtually all of Vancouver held their breath. Finally, McCreary pointed to centre ice, signalling a Vancouver goal and the icing on the 4-1 victory. Rangers GM Neil Smith couldn't control the "roller coaster swing of emotions" watching from above the ice, and fainted. He would require medical attention. The series was headed to a seventh contest, and Geoff Courtnall's four goals in two games significantly helped the cause.
Still Cup-less KEEP THE CORKS on the bubbly. This one isn't over. The Canucks would not allow a celebration at their expense last night. They blitzed the Rangers, 6-3, in Game 5 of the finals, and so for at least another few days, the Stanley Cup won't belong to New York. Now the Rangers head back to Vancouver to try again. Oh, well. "The story line here is we made too many mistakes," Kevin Lowe said. That isn't much consolation to the poor souls who paid as much as $1,200 to sit in the teal seats, yell at the top of their lungs and supposedly watch history in the making. Or to New York's finest, who stood outside in seas of blue in riot gear. It will have to do, though. The Rangers still lead the series, 3-2, and have two more shots at the prize. Mike Keenan said he felt his team wasn't ready. "I had an inkling we were in difficulty from the morning on," he said. "Certainly the media was seduced in this case and it certainly was picked up by the club." But Keenan had no idea how much difficulty the Rangers would have. No one in the playoffs has beaten them this badly. For the second consecutive game, they fell behind, this time, 3-0 early in the third period, as Geoff Courtnall and Pavel Bure scored in the first 2:48 after Jeff Brown's second-period goal had given the Canucks a 1-0 lead. But the Rangers nearly pulled off another Lazarus, the way they did Tuesday night in Game 4. Doug Lidster slapped one in from the right point at 3:27 to pull his team within two. Less than three minutes later, Steve Larmer knocked in his own rebound, and things began to heat up. By the time Mark Messier gathered Glenn Anderson's feed and wristed a shot past Kirk McLean (35 saves) from the far edge of the right circle at 9:02, the fans believed again. They screamed that ear-splitting scream that makes the Garden tremble. But on this night, the Canucks - especially Bure and Courtnall, who each scored twice - were too much and the Rangers were struggling with a four-man rotation on defense after Jeff Beukeboom was ejected in the first period for instigating a fight with Sergio Momesso. The fifth defenseman, Jay Wells, didn't get much ice time, leaving the bulk of the work to Lowe, Lidster, Leetch and Sergei Zubov. "Beuk is such a large part of the team, so when you lose a guy like that it makes a difference," Lowe said. After Dave Babych got burned on Messier's goal, he came back 29 seconds later to score the game-winner. Bure steamed down the right side and moved to the middle, pulling Richter toward him. The Russian Rocket then dished off to Babych at the left circle and Richter moved over too late. The defenseman's shot slipped between the goaltender's right skate and the left post at 9:31, and it was enough to cook the Rangers. "It's one I'd like to have again," Richter said. Courtnall and Bure each scored their second goals on odd-man rushes off rebounds, and it was over. "Our third man got caught all night long, giving them rushes," associate coach Colin Campbell said. "We got outhustled." The game may have turned out differently if Esa Tikkanen's goal at 10:06 of the first period had not been disallowed. The linesman ruled Stephane Matteau had entered the zone before Tikkanen and whistled the play dead an instant before Tikkanen beat McLean with a slapper from the high slot. "I heard a whistle and let it go," Tikkanen said. "What can you do if that's the call? You can't change nothing." Video replay appeared to show Matteau was onside, but that Tikkanen may have put himself offside. The real killer on that play, however, was Beukeboom's ejection. Momesso had slashed Brian Leetch on the ankles, then tried to push him, when Beukeboom came flying in and tackled him, then started punching. Matteau also joined in, but he wasn't thrown out. "It was an undisciplined play on Jeff's behalf," Keenan said. "That was a tough loss." The Rangers survived the first period with a scoreless tie and Adam Graves just missed a shot off the crossbar, but the Canucks were gaining confidence and pushing them around. Brown scored at 8:10 of the second period but the Rangers had a chance to tie it when Courtnall was assessed a five-minute major at 10:13 for elbowing Zubov in the face along the right boards. The Rangers' power play fizzled, however, and they wouldn't score until they had allowed the Canucks another two goals. Courtnall's first came on his own rebound with not a Ranger in sight at :26 of the third, and then a rebound off Bure's slapper caromed off Leetch's skate and into the net at 2:48. "They were due for a better game and we were due for a stinky game," Campbell said. The timing couldn't have been worse for Rangers fans or for the Canucks, who played with a lot of guts. "I'm real proud of those guys," Canucks coach Pat Quinn said. "It gives us a chance to fight again." Mark Messier insisted the Rangers weren't caught up in the emotion of the evening. "That's easy to say," he said. "We know the task at hand. We have to play better the next game." No doubt about it.
Stanley Cup Final "TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT!" That was the inscription on June 9, 1994's edition of The New York Post. Everyone in New York had scheduled celebratory parties for the post game. New York City's mayor Rudy Giuliani invited the New York Rangers to his mansion for a victory barbeque. Bleacher seats were selling for $2000. Canucks captain Trevor Linden said, "We've been in this situation before." Pat Quinn had tinkered with his lines for game Five, moving Murray Craven back between Bure and Adams, and moved Linden to a line with Courtnall and Nathan Lafayette. The Rangers appeared ridiculously nervous, and the constant chanting of "We Want the Cup" from the fans didn't help their cause a bit. In a bizarre play in the midway goings of the first, Esa Tikkanen blew a drive past Kirk McLean. The red light went on, and as it did, big Sergio Momesso clocked Brian Leetch and sent him to the depths of the ice. Jeff Beukeboom quickly rushed to the aid of Leetch, and mauled Momesso. As the penalties were sorted out, the Rangers were handed the short end of the stick in two ways; Beukeboom was given a game misconduct, and because linesman Randy Mitton saw Stephane Matteau offside on the play, the goal was disallowed. Mitton was mistaken, Matteau was not offside, as replay proved. The Canucks had caught a major break. The first goal of the game, came off a wicked blast from Jeff Brown at 8:10 of the second period. Geoff Courtnall was handed a five minute major at the end of the second period for a vicious elbow, but the New York Rangers blew their immense chance to tie the game. In the third period, Geoff Courtnall delivered. Silenced forever since the Dallas series, he played like a man possessed. His first goal came at the 0:26 second mark as he potted his own rebound. Then, at 2:48, Pavel Bure's crazy slap shot balooned off Brian Leetch's skate and in. The Canucks now led 3-0, shocking the Garden's crowd. But, the Rangers came to life, scoring three unanswered goals on a Doug Lidster floater, a Steve Larmer rebound chip-in, and Mark Messier's tuck-in off Dave Babych's skate. Five goals had been scored in nine minutes. Dave Babych must have been feeling awful for blowing it in the previous Ranger goal, because he made up for it only 30 seconds later with a bad angle wrister that baffled Mike Richter. Geoff Courtnall then potted his second of the game on a rebound. On the very next rush, Mike Richter kicked out a Cliff Ronning shot, but the puck went directly to Bure, who scored his second of the game, and 16th of the playoffs. The Canucks took the game 6-3, forcing all of New York to take another look at the Canucks team, Are they for real? NY Coach Mike Keenan made the typical excuses for his club, blaming the media for writing off the Canucks, which purely added incentive to Vancouver's game. Keenan said, "Headlines like that are like putting gasoline on a fire. As soon as I saw that headline, I knew we were in deep trouble." Trevor Linden said confidently, "The party doesn't start until we've had our say." Jeff Brown added, "I'm worried much more about the potential victory parade in Vancouver." Brown, had printed his daughter's name, 'Jenna' in bold black letters on the back of his blade, and that may be attributed to his scoring touch the last few games. Geoff Courtnall sounded relieved to find the goal after his long drought, saying, "It's been a tough stretch. In the Calgary series, I seemed to get a lot of bounces and lots of chances to score. Since the Dallas series, I really haven' t had too much. I've been fighting it more and more. It was getting tougher and tougher each game. The harder I tried, the worse it got."
Trying Harder, Getting Worse, Courtnall Finally Finds Net Until Thursday, Vancouver Canucks left winger Geoff Courtnall had been missing in action in the Stanley Cup finals. In four games he had no goals and no assists, but he came alive in a big way Thursday night. Courtnall, 31, scored two goals to help the Canucks to a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, forcing a Game 6 tonight at Pacific Coliseum. The goals were Courtnall's first since May 2. "It's been a tough stretch," a relieved Courtnall said after the game. "In the Calgary series, (I) seemed to get a lot of bounces and lots of chances to score. Since the Dallas series, I really haven' t had too much. "I've been fighting it more and more. It was getting tougher and tougher each game. The harder I tried, the worse it got." Courtnall nearly flubbed his first opportunity Thursday. Rangers goalie Mike Richter stopped Nathan LaFayette's deflection, but couldn' t control the rebound. The puck fell to Courtnall, who whiffed on his first shot before kicking the puck ahead and finally scoring on the backhand. "That's way it's been going for me," Courtnall said. Courtnall scored his second goal on another big rebound after Richter had stopped LaFayette's shot from the right wing. "Geoff played his best game of the playoffs," Canucks alternate captain Sergio Momesso said. "We needed him to score for us, and he did, just like Game 5 against Calgary." That victory over the Flames started the Canucks on their comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the first round, a comeback they'd like to duplicate in the finals. "We've been in this situation before," Canucks captain Trevor Linden said. If the Canucks were to come back and win the Stanley Cup, they would become the first team in Stanley Cup history to win two series in the same playoff year after falling behind 3-1. Since the seven-game format was begun in 1939, only 12 teams have come back from 3-1 to win playoff series, and it's only happened once in the finals. In 1942, the Toronto Maple Leafs were down 3-0 before beating Detroit. Rangers' defenseman Jeff Beukeboom admitted that he was overzealous in attacking Momesso after Momesso ignited the first big altercation of the series by slashing and knocking down Rangers star Brian Leetch midway through the first period. Referee Andy vanHellemond ejected Beukeboom for instigating a fight, a curious call considering Stephane Matteau had tackled Momesso and Beukeboom piled on. No matter. Beukeboom would have been ejected as the third man into the fight anyway. "Normally, I wouldn't react like that, but it looked like (Momesso) was trying to hurt Brian with his stick," Beukeboom said. "Normally, I would try to keep my composure and skate away, but it looked like he was going to hurt Brian. So, what are you going to do?" Control yourself. Rangers coach Mike Keenan called Beukeboom's actions undisciplined. "That was a tough loss for us," he said. The home-ice advantage hasn't meant much in this series. The Canucks are 2-1 at Madison Square Garden and the Rangers are 2-0 at Pacific Coliseum. Keenan said that home-ice "doesn't really matter at this point. . . . That's what playoff hockey is all about." The Canucks have been much better on the road than at home in the playoffs. They're 8-3 on the road and only 6-5 at home. With a playoffs-leading 16 goals, Vancouver's Pavel Bure is three short of the playoff record of 19. Philadelphia's Reggie Leach scored 19 in 16 games in the 1976 playoffs, and Edmonton's Jari Kurri matched it in 18 games in 1985. Bure has played in 22 games.
One Away! THE RANGERS have poured champagne into the Cup. Now all they have to do is drink it. Third-period goals by Alexei Kovalev and Steve Larmer capped the Rangers' rally from a 2-0 deficit and lifted them to a 4-2 victory over the Canucks last night at the Pacific Coliseum, giving them a 3-1 series lead and moving them within one win of their first Stanley Cup since 1940. Brian Leetch all but cemented the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs with a goal and three assists and Mike Richter's stop on Pavel Bure's penalty shot also put the Rangers one step closer. Kovalev's goal, on a power play, came on a centering pass from Leetch, who carried the puck into the zone and fed Kovalev, who beat Canucks goalie Kirk McLean to the glove side. The Rangers received the man advantage when Vancouver's Martin Gelinas took a penalty for roughing Kevin Lowe in the offensive zone at the 14:31 mark. "Jay Wells told me [early in the third period], `Alex, we need you. Just score a goal.' Everybody helped me and I helped them," Kovalev said. Larmer's goal at 17:56 was stunning, coming from 65 feet on a shot that deflected off Vancouver defenseman Dave Babych at the blue line and somehow eluded McLean. Game 5 is tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. "Right now we're not going to be looking too far ahead," Mark Messier said. "We're not going to fall into that trap." Richter's save on Bure's penalty shot with the Canucks leading 2-1 early in the second period gave the Rangers a boost. "That was the biggest stop he ever made in his career for sure," Rangers coach Mike Keenan said. That save, and Leetch's continued outstanding play, put the Rangers in position to celebrate a Cup-clinching victory on their home ice. "When it comes to Leetchie, you expect it," Adam Graves said of Leetch's heroics. Game 4 offered scintillating hockey from the time the Canucks took a 2-0 lead into the second period until Sergei Zubov blasted a power-play slapper with 15.2 seconds left in that period to tie it for the Rangers. This held shades of Game 6 against the Devils, when the Rangers came back from two goals down and staved off elimination with Messier's hat trick. The home team sizzled in the first, with help from six power plays. Trevor Linden scored on one of them and Cliff Ronning added a goal with the teams skating four-on-four, while the Rangers had trouble even getting off shots. But by the second period, Leetch and Richter gave the Rangers the lift they needed. Leetch kept penetrating the Canucks' zone, and finally on a give-and-go with Craig MacTavish, he wound up from the left circle and fired a slap shot high to the short side with McLean distracted by Joe Kocur. That made it 2-1 at 4:03. Then, Leetch got burned by Bure on a breakaway and had no recourse but to trip him. At 6:31 a penalty shot was awarded, the seventh in the history of the Stanley Cup finals. Bure had a chance to put his team up 3-1, but for the seventh time in history, the shooter failed. Richter came way out of the crease to meet Bure and backed in gradually. Bure moved quickly to his left, to the forehand, right near the crease. Richter did the splits, catching the puck with his right skate and kicking the shot away. Never let the Rangers off the hook. Even chants of "Nine-teen For-ty" wouldn't rattle them. The penalty killers thwarted an eighth Canucks power play, and at 18:55, Greg Adams boarded Zubov. Only 15.2 seconds remained when Messier fed Zubov in the high slot. Zubov, who missed Game 3 with a bruised sternum, waited for an opening and sailed a shot past Babych and Graves inside the left post. It was his first goal since Game 1 of the Devils series and the Rangers' second power-play goal of this series. Neither team seemed overly anxious to run with the puck in the first 10 minutes. It took Messier's wrister from the right circle to put the first shot on the board at 5:22. Soon after that, the Canucks picked it up and, on their second power play, with Graves off for holding Sergio Momesso, they ended their drought on the man advantage after 18 tries in this series. Jyrki Lumme flubbed a shot from the right point, but the puck skirted past MacTavish to Linden. The Iron Man, playing in his 52nd consecutive playoff game, gathered the puck and swept it past Adams' screen inside the left post for his first goal of the series at 13:25. The towel-waving Canucks fans rejoiced. McLean made a save on Graves in the crease and, at the other end, Messier sent Momesso head-first into the boards. He was assessed a five-minute major (but no game misconduct), fuel for the Canucks. Linden was called for holding Doug Lidster's stick to end the power play, but the Canucks scored with the teams playing four-on-four. Kovalev was denied at the doorstep by McLean and, on the ensuing rush, Bure faked out Zubov and forced Richter to poke-check his backhand. The rebound jumped to Ronning, who steamed in and knocked one home at 16:19 for the two-goal lead.
Stanley Cup Final The Canucks start in this game resembled their last effort in Game Three. They came out using the body at every pportunity, checking Brian Leetch, the likely candidate for MVP, with extra exuberance. However, their hard hitting drew a power play for New York when Geoff Courtnall elbowed Alexei Kovalev a paltry 3 minutes into the contest. The Canucks were on top of things though, and didn't give up a shot on the ensuing power play. Jeff Beukeboom hauled and mauled Cliff Ronning, drawing a Vancouver penalty. On their power play, they got three good shots away at Richter, and the Rangers goalie made excellent saves on both Courtnall and Jeff Brown. Adam Graves took yet another penalty for the Rangers, when he was called for holding big Sergio Momesso. On the power play, the Canucks ended a 0/19 drought on the PP in the series. Trevor Linden notched his 10th goal of the series on a screened wrist shot after Jyrki Lumme whistled a shot wide from the point. Rangers "role model" Mark Messier took a 5 minute major when he mauled Sergio Momesso head first into the boards from behind. However, Trevor Linden took a penalty when Referee Terry Gregson caught him holding the stick of Doug Lidster, thus making play 4 on 4. Pavel Bure and Cliff Ronning teamed up to give the Canucks the 2-0 lead. Pavel stole the puck from Steve Larmer in the Vancouver zone, and had a fast give and go with Murray Craven, who sent Bure in alone with Sergei Zubov. Bure took a weak one handed back hander at Richter. Richter made the initial save, but the rebound found Cliff Ronning, who rifled the puck into the top shelf of the net. Near the end of the period, Brian Leetch broke in alone on McLean on a breakaway, but McLean robbed him blind with a dazzling glove hand, quick as lightning. At the end of the first period, the frustrated Esa Tikkanen punched Jeff Brown in the head, drawing a Canucks power play. The Canucks drew penalty after penalty, and the fact they couldn't put the 3-0 nail in the New York player's back ended up being the game's turning point. After a few more squandered power plays, the Canucks were brought back to reality when Leetch found the top corner on a three on two at 4:03 of the second to make the score 2-1. Brian Leetch then became the goat, hauling down Pavel Bure on a breakaway. The result was a penalty shot for the Russian Rocket, often called the most feared breakaway player in hockey. With the Pacific Coliseum crowd on their feet, Bure flew in towards the net. Mike Richter came well out of the net, then slowly retreated. As Bure came closer to the net, he faked a backhand shot, then shifted to his forehand and tried to tuck it between Richter and his stick side, but was stopped cold by Richter who stuck out his right pad. The deke was a carbon copy of his deke against Mike Vernon in Game Seven. The save for Richter was the turning point of the game. Instead of being 3-1 for the hometown Lotus Landers, it was 2-1 and still a tightly knit game. Mike Keenan later proclaimed the save, "the biggest of Richter's career." At 18:55 of the second, Greg Adams was handed a boarding infraction. Sergei Zubov narrowed the Canucks lead to one as he wired a blast from the point with a mere 16 seconds left in the period to tie the game at 2-2. In the third period, the Rangers were handed a Too Many Men penalty, but as usual, the Canucks squandered the opportunity. At 14:31, Martin Gelinas took a penalty for roughing, in typical brutal timing, when he clocked Kevin Lowe into the boards. 36 seconds later, Brian Leetch swooped and swam through the Canucks defense, making them look like stationary cement blocks. Leetch hit Alexei Kovalev's tape with a sweet pass, who didn't hesitated to rifle it into the top corner. Brian Leetch's arm were so damaged from an earlier slash, he couldn't even raise his arms in jubilation. And then, at 17:56, the Rangers iced the cake with a Larmer shot from 100 feet out, that deflected off the leg of Dave Babych, and bounced passed a surprised, and unbalanced Kirk McLean. The final score was 4-2, not what the hometeam was looking for. Now, the Canucks were down 3-1, and the Rangers were one win from the Stanley Cup Championship. Brian Leetch now had 32 points in the playoffs, as Pat Quinn noted, "Leetch is making big play after big play, and we haven't been able to keep him off the board. He's been their best player by a wide margin." Speaking about the madness Keenan's Rangers would surely see back in New York, Keenan said, "We'll enjoy it. We'll feed off it. The place is going to be a madhouse."
Late Goal puts Rangers a Win Away from Cup Alexei Kovalev scored the winning goal with 4 minutes 55 seconds remaining, snapping a 2-2 tie, as the New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 Tuesday in the Stanley Cup finals. The victory gives the Rangers a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. They can win their first Stanley Cup since 1940 with a victory in Game 5 Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Kovalev scored the winner with the Rangers on the power play. With Martin Gelinas in the penalty box for roughing Kevin Lowe, Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch started a rush from deep in the Rangers zone. He skated up-ice, moved around Brian Glynn at the blue line and set up Kovalev for a break-in through the slot. Kovalev snapped a shot over Kirk McLean's right shoulder for his eighth goal of the playoffs. Steve Larmer put the game away when his dump-in from center ice deflected off defenseman Dave Babych and past McLean at 17:56. Leetch had a hand in all four of the Rangers' goals, with a goal and three assists. The favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP, Leetch leads playoff scorers with 32 points on 10 goals and 22 assists. Sergei Zubov scored the Rangers' other goal and assisted with Leetch on each of the last two. Trevor Linden and Cliff Ronning scored for the Canucks, whose spirited effort fell short. The Canucks' start in Game 4 bore a striking resemblance to that of Game 3. The Vancouver hit men set the tone early by pounding the Rangers at every opportunity, sometimes with too much exuberance. Referee Terry Gregson penalized Geoff Courtnall for elbowing Kovolev 3 minutes 11 seconds into the game. But the Canucks killed the penalty without giving up a shot. The Canucks had three good shots at Rangers goalie Mike Richter after Jeff Beukeboom pulled down Cliff Ronning, but Richter stopped two big shots from Jeff Brown and another by Courtnall. The Rangers killed the penalty, and it looked as though they had survived the Canucks' early barrrage until Gregson caught Adam Graves holding Sergio Momesso's stick at 13:02. With Graves in the box, the Canucks ended their drought on the power play, scoring their first in 19 tries in the series. Trevor Linden scored the goal at 13:25, his first of the series, on a screened wrist shot from the high slot after Jyrki Lumme had misfired on a slap shot from the right point. Brown picked up the second assist, his first of the series. Just as a major penalty on Vancouver star Pavel Bure took the Canucks out of Game 3, a major penalty on Rangers star Mark Messier threatened to do the same in Game 4. Messier rammed Momesso against the boards head-first, and earned a major boarding penalty at 14:17. But Gregson caught Linden holding Doug Lidster's stick at 15:07, apparently squandering two minutes of the five-minute power play. But just over a minute later, Bure and Ronning teamed up for the Canucks' first four-on-four goal of the series. Bure stripped the puck from Steve Larmer in the Canucks' zone and played a quick game of give-and-go with Murray Craven, who sent Bure off one-on-one against Sergei Zubov. Bure swooped to his right around Zubov and cut back to his left in front of him while sending a one- handed backhand at the Rangers net. Richter made the save, but Ronning snapped the rebound over his right shoulder for his fifth goal of the playoffs. After Linden's penalty expired, Courtnall negated another the power play by upending Tikkanen at 7:54. Tikkanen remained in foul humor over that hit, and after McLean robbed Brian Leetch with a glove save on a breakaway, Tikkanen punched Brown on the head and took a roughing penalty at 18:45. The Canucks squandered that power play and another after Courtnall drew a holding penalty on Lidster 1:13 into the second period. The failed chances proved costly when Leetch picked the top corner on a three-on-two rush to cut Vancouver's lead to one at 4:03. Undaunted, the Canucks attacked. Vancouver coach Pat Quinn put together an ex-Blues line of Ronning, Courtnall and Nathan LaFayette and the line dominated, only to be twarted by Richter. Leetch missed a glorious scoring chance six minutes into the period, shooting wide on a backhand, then gave Vancouver the best chance of all - a penalty shot. Leetch pulled down Bure from behind on a breakaway and Gregson awarded the penalty shot, only the seventh in Stanley Cup final history. With the 16,500 fans at Pacific Coliseum on their feet, Bure skated in, deked twice and tried to stuff the puck around Richter at the right post. But Richter slid over and made the pad save. The Canucks maintained the pressure and got another power play chance at 16:58 when Momesso drew a tripping penalty on Lidster. The Rangers killed it, and in frustration, Adams roughed Zubov four seconds after Lidster's penalty expired. Zubov exacted his revenge at 19:44, rifling a screened shot past McLean to tie the game 2-2. After taking Messier's pass, Zubov waited for Graves' screen to develop before shooting from the high slot. The Rangers committed a grievous error early in the final period when they were caught with too many men on the ice at 3:53. Typically, the Canucks wasted it. They couldn't get out of their zone and Lumme was forced to hold Larmer with the Rangers on the short-handed attack at 4:48. With the teams playing four on four, Gregson gave the Canucks' their 10th power play of the game at 11:29, penalizing Messier for hitting Brian Glynn on the face with a high stick. Richter stopped Bure's shot from the right circle, Vancouver's only shot with the four-on-three advantage.
Getting a Big Break PAVEL BURE broke Jay Wells' nose, but it was the Canucks who suffered. Bure's high-sticking major and subsequent ejection for smacking Wells in the face with 1:39 left in the first period thoroughly deflated the Canucks, who limped away from the Pacific Coliseum last night 5-1 losers to the Rangers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. I'm glad he did it, actually, said Wells, who also received four stitches above his left eye. It's one less guy to fear. The Rangers played as if they had nothing to fear, even though their defensive corps was hobbled by the absence of Sergei Zubov, who sat out after hurting his chest in Game 2. Brian Leetch dazzled with two goals, and the rest of the blue-liners helped Mike Richter (24 saves) keep the Canucks from doing any more damage after Bure's breakaway goal 1:03 into the game gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Vancouver suffered its worst defeat of the playoffs and ensured the Rangers, who lead the series 2-1, will return to Madison Square Garden at least even. Game 4 is Tuesday night, a crucial one for the Canucks, who don't want to face elimination in New York. Glenn Anderson, a Vancouver native, scored the game-winner for the second consecutive game. He tipped Sergei Nemchinov's shot from the high slot through his legs past Kirk McLean with 41 seconds left in the first period to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. He knew exactly were I was, Anderson said. The key was he didn't turn the puck over at the blue line. With the teams skating four-on-four after Bure's penalty, Nemchinov carried Brian Glynn along the right boards and to center ice, where he wristed a shot between the legs of Murray Craven to the goal. Anderson was right in front, and he didn't miss. Steve Larmer and Alexei Kovalev also scored for the Rangers, who took over after McLean (20 saves) let in a 60-foot squib shot by Leetch at 13:39 of the first period that tied the score at 1. It kind of went downhill after the first goal, McLean said. Everything kind of collapsed there. Pavel gets that five-minute and then they score another one and we couldn't get it going from there. If that doesn't go in then maybe it's a different game. Canucks coach and general manager Pat Quinn said he thought the five-minute major and game misconduct was too severe a punishment for Bure's high stick. It didn't appear Jay was hurt too badly, Quinn said. Was it a high stick? Sure. But we have four-minute penalties. Bure said the team had discussed using the body more, so that's what he tried to do. I just try to hit him with my shoulder and I think my stick slid and hit him in the face, Bure said. Lots of guys said I should get four minutes. Wells thought the penalty was justified. When a stick's high and someone gets cut, he should get tossed, the defenseman said. He said he has broken his nose at least a half-dozen times. The first thing you do is grab your nose and put it back in place, Wells said. It's better than doing it an hour or two later. After Anderson scored near the end of the first, Leetch added his second goal on a rebound of Esa Tikkanen's slapper at 18:32 of the second to make it 3-1. Leetch now has 28 points in the playoffs, tying Doug Gilmour of the Maple Leafs for the league lead. He was my hero tonight, as I told him on the ice, Anderson said of Leetch. Brian Leetch is phenomenal. I've never seen a defenseman move his feet the way he does. The rout was on. Larmer's innocent backhand hit John McIntyre, then bounced off Dave Babych's left skate and through McLean's legs only 25 seconds into the third. Kovalev added the Rangers' only power-play goal in seven tries to end the scoring. McLean had been so solid until last night, but Quinn said he wasn't worried about his goaltender's confidence. He has learned over the years to deal with the bad things in our business, he said. One of his strengths is dealing with adversity. He's got a heap of it coming up. The Rangers know Game 4 is a big one. Huge, Anderson said. If we don't come out on Tuesday, this game was all for naught. Vancouver is a phenomenal team. They're not going to roll over at all.
Notes & Quotes:
Stanley Cup Final Game Three found Vancouver Canucks players skating on their own sheet of ice, in front of their own crowd. The crowd was a bunch of banshees before this one, and for a period of time, they didn't let up. One minute into the game, Trevor Linden hit Pavel Bure with a pretty pass. In the clear, Bure wired a shot through the legs of Mike Richter, to give the Canucks the early lead 1-0. The crowd broke loose and went wild. Bure was flying on this night, and twice in the period, Bure drew penalties when Ranger players hauled him to the ice. At 13:39, Brian Leetch flipped the puck at Kirk McLean, who accidently deflected the puck into his net. The Canucks shrugged it off and came out hard still on the powerplay, and when Leetch took a penalty late in the period, things were looking up. Half way through the Vancouver man advantage, with 1:39 left in the first, the entire game changed for the worse. Bure, high sticked Ranger 35 year old veteran Jay Wells in the face. Wells, who was a member of the 1980 USA Miracle on Ice team who beat the Russians, required four stitches and was bleeding a fair bit. Referee Andy van Hellemond, who was the ref when Bure decked Churla, refused to let Bure get away again, and handed him and the Canucks a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. Only one minute after Bure was handed the penalty, the game's momentum had clearly altered, as the Rangers' Glenn Anderson scored. The Canucks continued to play the body, but it was no use. Leetch would add another goal, Steve Larmer and Alexei Kovalev would also notch markers. Larmer's goal was caused after he took a weak backhand shot that hit John McIntyre, then bounced off Dave Babych's skate through the legs of McLean. The final score was 5-1, and the Rangers had the 2-1 series lead. Glenn Anderson had provided the game winner for the second time in a row. A sewn up Jay Wells said later, "I'm glad he did it, actually. It's one less guy to fear." McLean noted, "Everything kind of collapsed there. Pavel gets that five-minute and then they score another one and we couldn't get it going from there. If that doesn't go in then maybe it's a different game." Pat Quinn questioned the officiating on Bure, saying, "It didn't appear Jay was hurt too badly. Was it a high stick? Sure. But we have four-minute penalties." When asked about his high sticking penalty, Bure replied, "I tried to hit him with my shoulder, and I think my stick just slid on his shoulder and hit him in the face. I tried to use my body. I missed." Finally, Pat Quinn, questioned whether or not his players were still in awe of the Rangers, " "We still have to convince our guys that they deserve to be here. We have to deal with the experience and awe that we' re all aware of and somehow not be affected by it. Those past rings don't mean a damn thing."
Quinn Tells His Canucks: Rangers are Only Flesh and Blood The Vancouver Canucks trail the New York Rangers 2-1 in the Stanley Cup finals and their situation has become critical. They've lost two successive games, and coach Pat Quinn senses that the Canucks have had problems dealing with the Rangers' aura. Seven Rangers - Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe, Glenn Anderson, Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Jeff Beukeboom and Craig MacTavish - combined to play in 26 Stanley Cup finals for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s. "We still have to convince our guys that they deserve to be here, " Quinn said. "We have to deal with the experience and awe that we' re all aware of and somehow not be affected by it. Those past rings don't mean a damn thing. "I have to be able to convince our guys that this is not an invincible force we're against. They're hockey players. Flesh and blood. . . . They're not immune to making mistakes. Here are guys who have all these Cups and rings, but you can force them into errors." The Canucks' overall play has improved steadily since the start of the series, but their results have gotten worse. They were terribly outmatched in Game 1, but goalie Kirk McLean stepped up with a 52- save performance that enabled the Canucks to win 3-2 on Greg Adams' overtime goal. They played better in Game 2, but hit the crossbar three times and the goal post once in a 3-1 defeat. In Game 3, they turned up the tempo but committed a variety of grievous errors that led to a 5-1 defeat. McLean played his worst game of the series and was beaten by two fluke goals. Standout winger Pavel Bure was ejected for cutting Jay Wells with a high stick, and a couple of bad breakdowns with the teams playing four-on-four led to two goals. Bure is not to be disciplined further. "Our overall game wasn't bad, but the goals we gave up were easy goals," Quinn said. "I'm attributing that a little bit to the pressure of the situation and the opposition, and hopefully, we won't have to wait until next year to learn those lessons." The Canucks' power play has suffered a power outage in the finals. It is scoreless on 17 tries, including six in Game 3. "We're not executing well," Quinn said, "but we also understand the percentage of the Ranger penalty kills isn't where it is because they're lousy. "They've done an outstanding job. They pressure us up ice and we have not responded at all. "`We're into nice swings, the pretty part of the game, but against a pressure team, we have to get back to basics." Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch has moved into a tie with Toronto' s Doug Gilmour for the playoff scoring lead, with 28 points. With three goals in the last two games, Leetch has nine goals and 19 assists.
Now It's Even THE RANGERS have made penalty-killing an art form all season. Last night their penalty-killers helped them even the Stanley Finals against the Canucks at one game apiece. Goalie Mike Richter also was brilliant, making 28 saves, but it was the penalty-killers who were mainly responsible for the Rangers' 3-1 victory in Game 2 at Madison Square Garden. Brian Leetch's backhanded, length-of-the-ice, empty-net goal with four seconds to go clinched it. The series shifts to Vancouver for Game 3 tomorrow and Game 4 on Tuesday. Not only did the Rangers kill all six Canucks' power plays, but they also got a shorthanded goal from Glenn Anderson at 11:42 of the second period to break a 1-1 tie. It was his second goal of the playoffs and the 90th of his playoff career, No. 4 on the all-time list. Mark Messier began the play by intercepting Trevor Linden's pass in the neutral zone. Messier skated down the middle with Canucks defenseman Jeff Brown to his left. Goalie Kirk McLean came out tentatively but managed to poke the puck off Messier's stick. It slid outside the left post, where Messier recaptured it and fed Anderson off the crease for a tap-in. We played together long enough, Messier said of Anderson, his Oilers' teammate from 1980-91, [that] I knew he'd be trailing me, that's for sure. Anderson downplayed his role in the goal. I just went to the net as hard as I could, he said. Mess fed it out to me and I had an empty net. Assistant coach Dick Todd said, Mark played an outstanding game. He's a power forward. He showed that by his burst of speed. He's just a tower of strength, an amazing athlete. He just keeps coming and coming. Richter said that Adam Graves told him at lunch Anderson was one of the greatest money players ever and predicted he would get a big goal before the series ended. He came through for us tonight, Richter said. Leetch said of Anderson's goal, To go into the third period with a lead helped us a lot. It's not quite the way you expect McLean to give one up. It really gave us a boost. The Rangers killed 16 of 17 penalties in the Islanders' series, were 23-for-25 against the Capitals and 23-for-26 against the Devils. Now, they have snuffed all 11 Canucks' man advantages and limited Pavel Bure to a single Game 1 assist. Bure, Linden and their left wing Greg Adams each was minus-3 last night. You just have to keep applying pressure, Todd said of penalty-killing. That's been our game all year: to attack and not let them set up. They've got some pretty skillful guys but if you're on them, it's hard for them to set up and make good plays. The Rangers' top penalty-killing forwards - Messier, Anderson, Esa Tikkanen and Steve Larmer - have great speed, which enables them to get in the opposing pointmen's faces, create turnovers and generate offense. Another necessary ingredient in penalty-killing is toughness, and defenseman Jeff Beukeboom provided that. Beukeboom took out several Canucks with crushing body-checks and got a standing ovation for his hit on Cliff Ronning after Anderson scored. It helped to get us going, Leetch said of Beukeboom's hitting. He laid some big hits out and freed people up. It really got us going on the bench. Todd said of Beukeboom, Any time you see a big guy coming, it's going to make you move the puck quicker and maybe not as accurately. Beuk was a big factor, especially in front of the net, hacking and whacking. The Rangers dominated the first period, as they had in Game 1, and got the first goal at 6:22. Doug Lidster, who played the previous 10 seasons, scored on the kind of move he made early in his career but had not made lately. Lidster skated down left wing against Bure, cut to the middle, ignored a slash on which defenseman Gerald Diduck broke his stick, and wristed the puck between McLean's pads. I was obviously very excited to score, said Lidster, who was benched in the first 14 playoff games. I haven't scored that often and to score against my former team was nice. It was his third goal in 45 career playoff games. The Canucks tied it at 14:04 when Sergei Momesso got his third goal on a right-circle wrist shot after Lidster failed to clear the puck up his right defensive boards. Both goalies were fabulous after that, and they got some help, too. Ronning hit the crossbar with a slap shot from beyond the high slot at 6:47 of the second period. With 3:19 left in the game, Tikkanen's left-circle slap shot hit McLean's glove, then kissed off the crossbar. The Canucks had a faceoff in the Rangers' right defensive circle with 40 seconds left in the game. Mindful that the Canucks had tied Game 1 with a minute to go in regulation, Rangers coach Mike Keenan said, I put the same guys out on the ice that were scored on and told them to get the job done. That would be Messier, Graves, Larmer, Beukeboom and Leetch. After a centering pass from the right-wing corner, Martin Gelinas got off a point-blank shot that Richter stopped. It was a little tense, Leetch said. They got a great shot at the end. Mike stepped up and made a great save. I saw Gelinas had a whack at it right at the doorstep. You can't believe it could happen again. To see it go in the corner was a relief.
Stanley Cup Final Early on in the first period of Game Two, Doug Lidster, the former Canuck who had been scratched for the past 14 playoff games by Mike Keenan, made a nifty move to score for the Ranger club at 6:22. Lidster skated by Pavel Bure, cut into the middle of the ice surface, and despite a slash from Gerald Diduck (that broke on Lidster's arm) he let go a wicked wrist shot through the legs of Kirk McLean. The Canucks didn't seem to think that Mr. McLean would have any problem being brilliant on a regular basis, so they let the New York squad fire 12 shots on goal, compared to the 2 Mike Richter faced. On Vancouver's first strong shift of the game at 14:04, Sergio Momesso would score. Doug Lidster, the hero turned goat, failed to clear the zone, and Momesso let loose a wrister from the right hand faceoff circle that beat Richter. The goal provided a temporary jolt for for Vancouver, as they would outshoot the Rangers 8-2 over the last six minutes. Geoff Courtnall provided the best chance, but hit the crossbar. The Rangers would come out and own the game again in the second. Early on, Pavel Bure ripped one off the post. Midway through the period, Cliff Ronning ripped one off the post. It looked as if the Canucks would have an excellent chance to take the lead when Adam Graves was sent to the box for tripping. Instead, the New York team got the shorthanded marker at 11:42. Trevor Linden attempted a blind cross-ice pass to Jeff Brown, that was intercepted by Messier. Messier took the puck in on a breakaway, but McLean pokechecked him before he could get a shot away. The puck skipped through Messier's legs to the side of the net for Glenn Anderson. Anderson potted it easily. Early in the third period, Greg Adams made a nifty shot, but (you guessed it) Adams found the crossbar. At the end of the game, with McLean pulled, the Canucks threw everything they had at the Ranger goal but came up short. With 4 seconds left, Brian Leetch slid the puck into the yawning cage to clinch the victory 3-1. The Canucks hit four goalposts in the game. Pat Quinn said afterwards, "If but an inch. But it's the same old story. Buts don't count." Mike Keenan suggested, "Maybe what happened was retributive justice." Trevor Linden remarked, "I made a big mistake on the power play. I didn' t see (Messier) there. I thought it was our defenseman clear, and I moved it. He raced down the ice, and I didn't give my guys much of a chance back there." Rangers assistant coach Dick Todd said " Richter said that Adam Graves told him at lunch Anderson was one of the greatest money players ever and predicted he would get a big goal before the series ended." Lidster added, "I was obviously very excited to score. I haven't scored that often and to score against my former team was nice." Pat Quinn was furious for ref Bill McCreary not penalizing the Rangers for their tactics of plowing McLean, which led to Lidster's goal. Adam Graves had battered McLean around numerous times in the game, Quinn responded, saying, "When I played, if someone ran your goalie, you just beat the shit out of them. Now that's a no-no because of all the antifighting pukes out there. I don't know if beating the shit out of Graves is going to stop him from running the goalie because of the type of player he is, but you should at least be able to find out."
Rangers are a Ringing Success in Posting 3-1 win over Canucks Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Those sounds were sweet music to the ears of the New York Rangers and their exuberant fans Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Quite a change from Tuesday night, when that sound gave them a ringing headache. Four times in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, the Vancouver Canucks rattled shots off the goal posts, three of them off the same crossbar that the Rangers' Brian Leetch hit seconds before Greg Adams' winning overtime goal in Game 1. Those four posts proved to be the saving grace for goalie Mike Richter and the Rangers, who weren't assured of victory until Brian Leetch's empty-net goal gave them a 3-1 victory with four seconds to play. "There's retributive justice; maybe that's the case tonight," Rangers' coach Mike Keenan said. "They hit some crossbars, and we did the other night. Those things even out." The clanging posts have evened this best-of-seven series 1-1 going to Vancouver for Game 3 Saturday and Game 4 Tuesday. "It's the goaltenders," Canucks coach Pat Quinn said, giving credit for the lucky bounces. "When they're playing well, they get those breaks. They're in good position, and the puck hits the post. "We had a couple but for a half-inch were in, but those don't count. They are good chances, but they don't go in. That's the way it goes. That's the breaks of the game." On this night, the breaks went against the Canucks, whose overall play was much improved after goalie Kirk McLean made 52 saves in Game 1. Former Blues winger Geoff Courtnall rattled a shot off the goal post late in the first period. Pavel Bure ripped a shot over Richter' s glove and off the crossbar 1 early in the second period. Former Blues center Cliff Ronning hit the crossbar on an identical shot midway through the period. The game was tied 1-1 on those occasions. Game 1 hero Adams had the same shot and the same result with the Canucks trailing 2-1 early in the third period. Richter borrowed a theme from Quinn in talking about the goal postswb. After Game 1, Quinn had joked that McLean played Leetch's shot to hit the post. "Actually, I knew they were going to hit the crossbar, so I didn' t even try for them," Richter said. In reality, Richter jerked his left arm up in desperation in an effort to glove the shots. The Canucks had beaten him cleanly. "They don't go in sometimes, but it's a good sign to get those kinds of shots," Bure said. "We played much better than we did in the first game, so it's not too bad to be 1-1 in New York against the Rangers." But the Canucks could have been going home with a 2-0 lead if not for the crossbars and what Bure called "a stupid goal" and McLean called "a fluky goal" in the second period. The short-handed goal by Glenn Anderson, the 90th playoff goal of his career, proved to be the winner. Anderson gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 11:42 of the period, after Mark Messier had intercepted Trevor Linden's blind cross-ice pass to Jeff Brown of the Canucks. Messier skated away on a breakaway, but McLean poke-checked him before he got off a shot. Unfortunately for McLean, the puck rattled between Messier's legs to the side of the net, from where he dropped the puck for Anderson charging past defenseman Jyrki Lumme. "I made a big mistake on the power play," Linden said. "I didn' t see (Messier) there. I thought it was our defenseman clear, and I moved it. He raced down the ice, and I didn't give my guys much of a chance back there." Messier nearly botched the play himself. "I actually got the puck too far ahead of me and right into McLean, " he said. "But Anderson made the play following up. That's what he does all the time. He finds a way to score big goals. He's done it his whole career." Anderson's 90 playoff goals ranks third in NHL history, behind former Edmonton Oilers teammates Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri. The goal was only his second in these playoffs, his first in 17 games. "Glenn Anderson's a very competitive individual," Keenan said. "He's a fierce competitor." The Rangers certainly needed that competitive fire to solve McLean, who was strong in Game 2 as well, making 37 saves. Anderson and Doug Lidster were the only Rangers to beat him Thursday. Lidster did so by charging in on left wing and stuffing the puck and McLean into the net at 6:22 of the first period. That lead held up until former Blues Bret Hedican, Ronning and Sergio Momesso teamed up for the tying goal at 14:04. Hedican held the puck in at the left point, and Ronning twirled and fired a shot that somehow got behind Richter and fell just in front of the goal line. The 6-4 Momesso used his long reach to whack the puck into the net. The Rangers' victory wasn't purely luck. Richter covered up nicely in the final seconds as Martin Gelinas tried to duplicate his game- tying effort in Game 1.
In the Hole EMPT FATE too many times, and it bites back. For the third time in eight games, the Rangers allowed an opponent to score in the final minute of regulation. And for the second time, they lost. This time, it happened in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, and now the Rangers find themselves down to the Canucks after losing, 3-2, last night at Madison Square Garden. Martin Gelinas pushed the puck past Mike Richter's armpit at 19:00 of the third period for the tying goal, and Greg Adams lifted Cliff Ronning's pass over Richter's glove with 34 seconds left in the first overtime. Sound the alarms? The Rangers say no. We did a good job all season, Kevin Lowe said. The last couple of games were compounded because of the playoffs. If we're given the opportunity again, it's not going to happen. They had better hope not, especially if Canucks goaltender Kirk McLean puts on a show like he did last night. He made 52 saves, 17 of them in overtime, to earn Vancouver the win. I think Vancouver walked out with a win because of the goaltender, period, Rangers coach Mike Keenan said. McLean is the reason they are here. Brian Leetch's slap shot hit the crossbar and, at the other end, Pavel Bure passed the puck ahead to Cliff Ronning, who steamed down the left wing and pulled Esa Tikkanen with him. Jeff Beukeboom was caught pinching, and there was no one on Adams. Ronning found him and Adams went top shelf. I figured I had it but it was a bit of a fan, said Richter, who saved 28 shots, only two of them on shots by Bure, who was shut down for most of the game by some tenacious defense on the Rangers' part. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead when Steve Larmer stuffed one in from Alexei Kovalev at 3:32 of the first. The Canucks then were blanked until Bret Hedican put in his first goal of the season at 5:45 of the third to tie the score. Kovalev then gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead when he poked in a gorgeous pass from Leetch at 8:29, and the Rangers looked to have avoided another OT. Not so fast. Gelinas hovered outside the crease, and when he made a save on Ronning, Gelinas poked it in my armpit and it just dropped in, Richter said. Only one minute remained in the third, and a collective sigh heaved from the 18,200 at the Garden. We have to rectify that, Mark Messier said. We can't keep winning games, then sending them into overtime in the last minute. McLean made a game saver on Adam Graves, then he kicked away Tikkanen's slapper and stuffed Stephane Matteau on three tries at the left post midway through the overtime. It's difficult to imagine that even the Stanley Cup finals could top the ferocity of the Rangers-Devils series, but it was evident from the outset that this series promises to be as physical, and maybe even nastier. From the looks of the extracurricular hits by both teams, there is bad blood from the teams' last meeting in Vancouver March 29, which ended in a screaming match between Keenan and Canucks coach Pat Quinn and a series of fights on the ice. In the first period last night, Vancouver defenseman Brian Glynn tripped Joe Kocur into the goalpost, causing leg and hip injuries that kept the Rangers' enforcer out the rest of the game. Tikkanen and Geoff Courtnall rammed each other at center ice after the whistle, Beukeboom leveled Sergio Momesso along the boards for an interference penalty and Kevin Lowe and John McIntyre each were called for roughing as they wrestled to the ice away from the play. At the end of the period, Brown pushed Sergei Nemchinov's head against the boards. In the midst of it all, the Rangers skated away with a 1-0 lead after two periods. Referee Terry Gregson gave each team plenty of power-play chances, but neither could connect on a combined nine tries through 40 minutes. In five tries, the Canucks had trouble getting through the Rangers' bothersome penalty killers, while the Rangers simply overpassed when they had the man advantage. The only goal came in the first period with the teams skating four-on-four. Kovalev carried the puck over the blue line and fed Leetch, who dropped it back again at the top of the right circle for Kovalev. The Russian deked defenseman Dave Babych and wristed a shot at McLean, who made a pad save. The rebound bounced to the right post, and Larmer swiped at the puck, hitting the post and then McLean's right skate at 3:32 for his sixth goal of the playoffs. Richter didn't face much danger (15 shots through two periods), but he made a nice kick save on Jyrki Lumme's power-play shot at the start of the second. Bure took his only shot, a slapper from the high slot, nine minutes into the second period. Meanwhile, McLean -- who faced the Rangers for the first time this season -- held his team close, turning away 24 shots through the first two periods, including a Mark Messier backhand and a power-play blast by Sergei Zubov that was heading inside the left post. Only 30 seconds into the third, he stopped a Messier breakaway, Graves' rebound and Matteau from the left side.
Stanley Cup Final Wasting no time in front of a jam packed crowd at Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers potted the first goal of the Finals at 3:32 of the first, when Steve Larmer scored, with helpers going to Brian Leetch and Alexer Kovalev. Still in the first period, Kirk McLean laid down the law on Joey Kocur, who was robbed on a two on one chance. Also in the first, Canucks defenseman Brian Glynn tripped Joey Kocur into the goalpost, causing him to leave the game with a leg injury. It looked to many that the Rangers were en route to a huge win, but Kirk McLean simply wouldn't have any part of it. McLean stood tall, and kept the score at 1-0 until the third period. Five minutes into the third, the Canucks finally got one. Defenseman Bret Hedican beat Rangers goaltender Mike Richter from point blank range. The goal was Bret Hedican's first as a Vancouver Canuck, and his first goal since he scored an empty netter on April 14, 1992. It caused the Rangers crowd to hold it's breath, but they wouldn't for long. Three minutes after that fact, Alexei Kovalev put the hometown Rangers up 2-1, finishing a pretty play from defenseman Brian Leetch. The game remained deadlocked at that score until the final minute of the third. Cliff Ronning was positioned in an awful spot, but threw the puck at the net. The shot somehow went to Martin Gelinas who was standing on the edge of the crease, and he tipped the puck under Mike Richter's arm to begin dribbling into the back of the net. The goal tied the game at 2-2. The dragon had awoken from his slumber. In the first overtime period, the man on the mission, Kirk McLean, made save after save, with the Rangers outshooting the Canucks 14-3. He stoned Leetch, Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, and Stephane Matteau. In the last minute of play, Brian Leetch fooled McLean with a rising wrister, but instead of finding the yawning cage, Leetch found iron. The puck yonked off the crossbar all the way to Pavel Bure at the Canucks blueline. Jeff Beukeboom was pinching, so Bure was able to find an open Cliff Ronning, fresh over the boards. Brian Leetch was completely out of the picture, and with Greg Adams following the play, the Canucks now had a two on one. Fifteen feet inside the Ranger's blueline Ronning slipped a pass to Greg Adams, who rifled a one-timed line drive over Mike Richter's shoulder for the clincher. Kirk McLean was truly a hero. He turned aside an flabbergasting 52 of 54 total shots; only Ken Dryden in 1971 had turned aside more shots in the Cup Finals, 56 against the Blackhawks. Mike Keenan said after, "Vancouver walked out of here with a win because of their goaltender, period." Pat Quinn, marvelled, "That performance should go on a highlight package for us and on an instructional package for a young goaltender." Gerald Diduck was happy to escape with the win, saying, "It was a little bit like winning a lottery. Kirk did it for us. Let's face it. We got lucky." "We faced three do-or-die situations against Calgary and really built off that," Kirk McLean said. "We've come to expect to win in overtime. We have a pretty good feeling. We don' t go out and try to score in the first five minutes. We just play our system and try to be patient. We don't panic. We work hard, and we've been getting the big goal when we really need it."
Greg Adams on his OT goal:"We got the puck back and turned it up. Cliff ended up with it on the boards and he made a great pass over to me and I just one-timed it and caught the top corner."
Canucks Bar the door, post OT win< The curse of 1940 struck the New York Rangers on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. They outplayed the Vancouver Canucks, but lost 3-2 on Greg Adams' goal 19 minutes 26 seconds into overtime to fall behind 1-0 in the best-of-seven series, which continues Thursday. Seconds before Adams' winner, Brian Leetch hit the crossbar with a shot from the slot and Pavel Bure started the game-winning rush. Bure poked the puck ahead to Cliff Ronning, who passed to Adams to complete a two-on-one rush. Ex-Blue Ronning assisted on two of the Canucks' goals, including the winner and Martin Gelinas' tying goal with one minute remaining in regulation time. Ex-Blue Bret Hedican scored the Canucks' other goal. Steve Larmer and Alexei Kovalev scored for the Rangers, who otherwise couldn't beat brilliant goaltending by the Canucks' Kirk McLean. McLean spoiled a brilliant performance by the Rangers and quieted the fans at game's end, quite a turnaround from the start of the game. The Rangers' exuberant fans created an electric atmosphere during the pregame ceremony. They cheered highlights of the Rangers' march to the finals on the video scoreboard. They chanted "Let's go Rangers, " and "We want the Cup." They drowned out the national anthems with a deafening roar. Against that backdrop, the game began and the skittish Canucks gave up a dangerous two-on-one rush in which McLean robbed Joey Kocur less than two minutes into the first period. A penalty on Jay Wells for cross-checking Sergio Momesso momentarily quieted the Rangers' crowd, but goalie Mike Richter kicked out shots by Jeff Brown, Jyrki Lumme and Greg Adams before Trevor Linden negated the power play. Linden, the Canucks' captain, hauled down Adam Graves in the attacking zone at 2:27, creating a momentum shift that saw the Canucks go almost eight minutes without a shot. Larmer gave the Rangers the lead with the teams playing four-on- four just over a minute later. Brian Leetch and Kovalev set up the goal with brilliant moves. Leetch slid a slick backhand pass to Kovalev, who deked and turned 14-year veteran Dave Babych into a pylon. McLean stopped Kovalev' s pass, but Larmer rattled the rebound off the post then off McLean' s pad and into the net at 3:32. It was a tough break for McLean, who was otherwise brilliant in the period. He had to be. The Canucks appeared sluggish after a one- week layoff, doing things in slow motion while the Rangers operated in a fast-forward mode. Kovalev, Leetch, Sergei Zubov and Mark Messier all had glorious scoring chances stopped by McLean, whose biggest save was on Messier. McLean kicked out Pavel Bure's inadvertent deflection, then slid across the crease to stop Messier's rebound on the far side. Larmer also whistled a shot off the goalp ost. Other than the three early shots on the power play, the Canucks didn't generate much offense against Richter in the first period, but they got their legs in the second period. They initiated the contact, dishing out some big hits and taking some big hits. For the first time, they made the Rangers realize they were in a game. Former Blues Geoff Courtnall and Nathan LaFayette had the Canucks' best scoring chances. Richter stopped Courtnall's drive on the left wing, and LaFayette's rebound trickled wide. Despite the Canucks' improved play, McLean still had to be brilliant. He stopped nine shots, including four golden scoring chances. He turned aside shots by Kovalev and double-overtime hero Stephane Matteau in a quick flurry. He stopped Larmer at point-blank range from the right circle. He picked off Zubov's uncontested shot from the slot with his blocker. McLean's brilliant play continued into the third fperiod and kept the Canucks in the game. He stopped Messier on a short-handed breakaway early in the period, then poked the rebound away from Adam Graves. He gloved an Esa Tikkanen's slap shot from the left wing before BHedican tied the game at 5:45 with his first goal in more than two years. Hedican skated alone into the slot and slid Lumme's rebound between Richter's pads for his first goal since April 14, 1992, when he scored his only goal with the Blues. The Rangers bounced right back, with offensive defensemen Zubov and Leetch turning a breakout from their own zone into a four-on- two rush. Zubov's slick pass from right defense caught three Vancouver forecheckers and sprung Leetch on left wing. Leetch skated through the Canucks' zone to the right circle before sliding a cross-ice pass to Kovalev on left wing. Kovalev snapped the shot past McLean at 8:29. McLean recovered with two big glove saves on Tikkanen and a pad save on Kovalev's point-blanker from the slot, setting the stage for the tying goal. Momesso and Ronning had a hand in this one. Momesso got the puck to Ronning, who shot from an extreme angle on the right-wing boards. Richter couldn't control the rebound and Martin Gelinas fought off Jeff Beukeboom's check to tap in the rebound with one minute remaining in regulation time. Undaunted, the Rangers came out strong in the overtime, but they did everything but score. They outshot the Canucks 14-3 in the first eight minutes of the period, but McLean again thwarted them with a series of brilliant saves.
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