Flyers vs Bruins

NHL Playoff action Flyers vs Bruins

(7) PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (0-1) AT (6) BOSTON BRUINS (1-0), 7 P.M.

Marc Savard and the Boston Bruins will try to build off the
momentum from a thrilling overtime victory when they host the Philadelphia
Flyers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden.

Savard, playing for the first time since suffering a concussion on March 7,
scored the game-winner 13:52 into overtime, leading the sixth-seeded Bruins to
a 5-4 victory in the opener of this best-of-seven series on Saturday.

Boston earned the home victory despite blowing a 4-2 lead in the third period,
and tonight, the Bruins will try to take a 2-0 lead before the series shifts
to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4.

The seventh-seeded Flyers, meanwhile, will attempt to bounce back and earn a
split in Beantown. Philadelphia, which will host Game 3 on Wednesday, is now
2-2 on the road in the postseason after going 17-21-3 as the away club during
the regular season.

Boston was 18-17-6 as the host during the season and has a perfect 4-0 record
at home so far in the playoffs. The Bruins won all three home games while
eliminating Buffalo in six games during the opening round.

On Saturday, Savard took a rolling puck in the right circle after Philadelphia
was unable to clear and rocketed a slapshot above Brian Boucher's glove into
the top right corner.

Patrice Bergeron and Miroslav Satan each recorded a goal and an assist for the
Bruins, who are 37-18 all-time in series when winning the opening game. Steve
Begin and David Krejci also scored, while Dennis Wideman had three assists.

"I think (Savard) played great hockey," Krejci said. "I can't remember the
last time he played like that. I'm talking about the overtime. It was huge. A
huge goal, and it's a good win. We have the first one, but the next one is
going to be much harder."

Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots for his fifth career playoff victory.

Mike Richards tallied a goal and two assists for the Flyers, who have lost
seven of their last eight Game 1s. Philadelphia did take the series opener in
the first round against New Jersey, en route to winning that series in five
games.

Chris Pronger and Danny Briere added a goal and an assist apiece, while Ryan
Parent also scored in defeat.

The Flyers, who were playing their first game since eliminating the Devils on
April 22, fell behind 2-0 in the opening period and were forced to chase
Boston all afternoon. The Bruins went ahead 4-2 on Krejci's goal at 7:25 of
the third period, but Philadelphia received goals by Pronger and Briere in the
final 10 minutes of regulation to force OT.

"It's one game," Briere said. "Obviously, we are not happy about the way we
played in the first period, giving them that 2-0 lead. But that's hockey. It's
one game. Get ready and bounce back. We were about to win one on their ice and
in the first two, and we're still in good shape. That is going to be our goal
for the next game."

Boucher, who kept his club in the extra session with 14 saves, stopped 41-
of-46 shots in all for Philadelphia.

The Bruins did lose forward Marco Sturm for the remainder of the playoffs with
a knee injury suffered in the first period of Saturday's game. Sturm, who
failed to register a point in Boston's first seven playoff games, led the
Bruins with 22 goals this season and added 15 assists for 37 points.

Boston and the Flyers are meeting in the playoffs for the first time since
1978. Each team has won twice in the four all-time playoff series between the
clubs. The Flyers won the most notable matchup, beating Boston in six games to
win the Stanley Cup in 1974. The Bruins have won the last two encounters,
including a five-game series win over Philly the last time clubs met in the
1978 Stanley Cup semifinals.

The Flyers and B's split four games this year in a season series that included
Boston's 2-1 overtime victory in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park. Both the
Bruins and Flyers had 2-1-1 records in the series.


(3) VANCOUVER CANUCKS (1-0) AT (2) CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (0-1), 9 P.M.

(Sports Network) - The second-seeded Chicago Blackhawks will try to bounce
back from a blowout loss in the opener of the Western Conference semifinals,
when they host the Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 tonight at United Center.

The Blackhawks also hosted Game 1 on Saturday, but were slammed, 5-1, by the
third-seeded Canucks. In its first round series against Nashville, Chicago
lost the opener at home by a 4-1 count before rebounding to win the series in
six games.

This series is a rematch of last year's conference semifinals, which Chicago
won in six games before losing to Detroit in the West finals. The Canucks also
won the opener in last year's matchup when they had home-ice advantage.

Roberto Luongo made 36 saves and Vancouver scored the first five goals of the
game en route to Saturday's easy victory in the Windy City.

Christian Ehrhoff and Mason Raymond each had a goal and an assist while Henrik
Sedin, Michael Grabner and Kyle Wellwood each added a goal for the Canucks,
who eliminated Los Angeles in six games to reach this stage.

Both the Blackhawks and Vancouver had a considerable layoff between the first
and second round of the playoffs. Chicago was playing its first game since
April 26, while the Canucks had been off since April 25.

"I was able to make a few saves early and it got me going," said Luongo. "That
was nice to get in the action right away since we hadn't played since Sunday.
Now we've got to keep it going."

Patrick Kane scored the lone goal while Antti Niemi made 20 saves in the loss
for the Blackhawks. Niemi was pulled after the second period and replaced by
Cristobal Huet, who stopped all three shots he faced.

"Sometimes when you have a long layoff it hurts," said Kane. "But they had the
same thing, though, so there's no excuse for it. Maybe we came in thinking it
was going to be an easy series which obviously it's not."

Niemi, who will get the start again tonight, has surrendered a total of 12
goals on 74 shots over his last three games. Luongo has stopped 90-of-95 shots
over the same span.

The Blackhawks were 29-8-4 as the host during the regular season and is 2-2 at
United Center in the postseason. Vancouver, which will host Game 3 on
Wednesday, was 19-20-2 on the road this year and is 3-1 as the guest in the
playoffs.

This marks the fourth time the clubs have battled in the postseason.
Vancouver's only series victory over Chicago was in the 1982 conference
finals, when the Canucks ousted the Blackhawks in five games before getting
swept by the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals.