Philadelphia was upset by Tampa Bay, and the New York Rangers lost their second straight at home to Montreal in the opening round of the NHL playoffs. No team, however, lost more than the St. Louis Blues.
Goaltender Grant Fuhr suffered a season-ending knee injury Thursday night in the Blues' 5-4 OT loss to Toronto that evened the best-of-7 series at one each.Fuhr was hurt when Chris Pronger cross-checked Nick Kypreos into him, and his leg got twisted amongst bodies as Pronger jumped on Kypreos in the crease.
While the Blues blamed Kypreos, he said he was innocent. "There's only one guy to blame, and it's the guy who hit me from behind," he said. "If (Pronger) doesn't touch me, I don't go anywhere near Fuhr."
St. Louis coach Mike Keenan saw it differently. "(Kypreos) deliberately tried to make contact with him," Keenan said.
Tonight's schedule features Washington at Pittsburgh, Winnipeg at Detroit and Calgary at Chicago. Washington, Detroit and Chicago lead 1-0. Game 2 of the Florida-Boston series is delayed until Monday because of Miami Arena scheduling conflicts.
Mats Sundin got two goals for Toronto, including the winner at 4:02 OT that beat backup goalie Jon Casey on a power play.
"I didn't get good wood on it," Sundin said. "I think (Casey) was expecting a harder shot. It hit him and barely made it over the line."
Lightning 2, Flyers 1, OT
At Philadelphia, Brian Bellows scored the winning goal against the injury-plagued Flyers at 9:05 OT. Bellows beat goalie Ron Hextall with an 18-foot slap shot. Philadelphia's John LeClair, Joel Otto and John Druce were injured during the game and their status for Game 3 is uncertain.
Canadiens 5, Rangers 3
At New York, Vincent Damphousse again scored the key goal - his second of the game - with 3:26 left. After the Rangers scored three straight to tie it on Ulf Samuelsson's goal with 7:43 remaining, the Canadiens moved ahead on a two-man rush by Damphousse and Mark Recchi., who set up Damphousse with a terrific pass from behind the goal line.
Marc Bureau added an empty-netter for Montreal with six seconds left. Damphousse scored twice in Game 1, including the winner in overtime. Games 3 and 4 will be played in Montreal, where the Canadiens are 17-1-3 in their last 21 games against the Rangers.
Canucks 5, Avalanche 4
At Denver, Vancouver rookie goaltender Corey Hirsch settled down after a shaky start. Hirsch, making his first playoff start in place of Kirk McLean, gave up three first-period goals but steadied himself in the final 50 minutes. Gino Odjick, who didn't have a pointless in 22 previous playoff games, scored two goals for the Canucks. Hirsch finished with 28 saves after giving up three goals on five shots in the first 10 minutes. Patrick Roy, playing in his 116th playoff game, had 24 saves for Colorado but was the victim of defensive lapses by his teammates.