Turgeon’s Overtime Goal Evens Series

The St. Louis Blues are loving life on the tightrope after beating the Dallas Stars in overtime two games in a row.

Pierre Turgeon stole a clearing pass and scored at 5:52 of the extra period Wednesday night as the Blues defeated the Stars, 3-2, at St. Louis to even the Western Conference semifinal series at 2-2.

“He made a great play getting through when the space was open,” said right wing Scott Young, whose forechecking on defenseman Sergei Zubov forced the play. “Just to hear the crowd erupt is a great feeling.”

It was the third consecutive overtime in the series and the Blues’ sixth overtime in 11 playoff games. They’ve won four.

“We don’t want to be in that situation too often,” Turgeon said. “We’d like to be ahead a few goals, but this is going to happen in the playoffs. It’s always tight and there aren’t many scoring chances.”

Turgeon picked off Zubov’s clearing effort near the center line. He skated into the slot before beating Ed Belfour with a high wrist shot, his ninth shot of the game, for his fourth goal and 11th point of the playoffs.

Zubov wouldn’t talk about the play, but his coach was critical.

“You can’t have that,” Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He knows it, we all know it. There was nobody there. The lane was up the wall. It was wide open. As a matter of fact, if we get it up the wall, it would have been a three on two.”

But fellow defenseman Richard Matvichuk defended Zubov.

“Everybody makes mistakes,” Matvichuk said. “If there were no mistakes made, every game would be 0-0. You can’t blame anybody.”

Turgeon’s overtime goal clinched the Blues’ first-round series victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. This one gave them confidence heading into Game 5 on Saturday at Dallas.

“I’m tired, but I’m excited,” center Craig Conroy said. “It’s like starting all over again.”

Buffalo 3, Boston 2--Dixon Ward scored the winning goal midway through the third period and Dominik Hasek blanked the Bruins for the final 51 minutes at Buffalo.

Rhett Warrener knocked in his own rebound to tie the score at 6:44 of the third period. Ward connected 2:54 later as the Sabres took a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Vaclav Varada passed from the side of the net to Ward in the slot and he scored from short range.

“[Varada] just started bringing it around the net and I screamed to him that I was open and he made a great pass,” Ward said. “I whacked at it and it went in.”

Jason Woolley gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 97 seconds into the game. But Steve Heinze and Anson Carter scored for Boston in the next 11 minutes.

Boston’s stingy defense held Buffalo without a shot for 21 minutes after the Sabres’ first goal. All three Sabre shots in the first period came on their one power play.

Buffalo managed only seven shots in the first two periods, but woke up and pressured the Bruins with 18 in the third.

“After two days, we were pretty full of ourselves because of the game we played in Game 2, and it showed,” Sabre Coach Lindy Ruff said. “We didn’t start working until the third period.”

Boston, meanwhile, went eight minutes without a shot in the third period and finished with only 21 shots at Hasek.

Around the League

If the Pittsburgh Penguins are to become the Portland Penguins, the road to Oregon must first pass through a U.S. bankruptcy judge’s office, not that of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Despite the hardened stance taken recently by the NHL, one designed to accelerate the Penguins’ bankruptcy proceedings, Bettman concedes the league can’t move them unless Judge Bernard Markovitz allows it. Previously, league officials suggested the NHL could disband or relocate the team if the 1999-2000 season was approaching and the Penguins’ case was not resolved. Paul Allen, owner of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, is reportedly interested in buying the team and moving it to Portland.

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