Paul Coffey symbolically established the Philadelphia Flyers' dominance before the game, then confirmed it with his play in the first period.
After a pregame showdown with Buffalo Sabres enforcer Matthew Barnaby, Coffey assisted on three first-period goals as the Flyers cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Sabres in Game 3 of their best-of-7 series Wednesday.The Flyers can sweep the series with a victory in Game 4 Friday. Even if they don't win then, their odds of taking the series are very good: only two teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a Stanley Cup playoff series.
Still, Coffey insisted, "There's no need for this team to be overconfident. We're not that good."
Maybe, but the Flyers have shown they are more than good enough to handle the Sabres, a gritty bunch of overachievers who have been without sensational goalie Dominik Hasek, serving a three-game suspension for throttling a reporter.
They also played the last two games without their top defensive forward, Mike Peca (back spasms), and last night without their leading scorer from the regular season, Donald Audette (sore shoulder).
Give Buffalo credit. Even with those handicaps, the smaller Sabres have attempted to stand up to the Flyers, even in such seemingly insignificant matters as the pregame skate.
The teams almost went at it before the game, when Barnaby and Coffey battled over Coffey's continued trespassing onto Buffalo's half of the ice.
"He said, `Cross the red line one more time,' so what do you think I did? I crossed the red line," Coffey said.
Barnaby, an agitator who had 249 penalty minutes this season, had enough.
"He came skating over the red line a few times, so I took a swack at him," Barnaby said. "He came over again and I took it on myself to slash him. I tried to break his ankle. It didn't work."
The Sabres would seem to have only one chance of staving off elimination. Having served his three-game suspension, Hasek will be eligible to play Game 4.
But he's been recovering from a knee injury, and Buffalo isn't sure whether it's healthy enough to allow him to play.
"If Dominik Hasek is ready to play, he will play. That's the only shakeup we have," Nolan said. Oilers 4, Avalanche 3
At Edmonton, Alberta, trailing late in the game and facing a 3-0 deficit in their playoff series with the defending champion Colorado Avalanche, the Edmonton Oilers didn't panic.
Instead, they staged a memorable rally as Ryan Smyth and Kelly Buchberger scored less than two minutes apart deep into the third period.
Buchberger scored his second goal of the game at 14:57 to tie it 3-3. At 16:15, Smyth converted a centering pass for the winner with goaltender Patrick Roy sitting down in his crease.
The heart-stopping comeback victory was Edmonton's first win in the Western Conference semifinal series. Game 4 is scheduled for Friday night in Edmonton.