Carolina Hurricanes' Jussi Jokinen (36) redirects the puck past New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur with 0.2 second left in a first-round hockey playoff game Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C. The goal lifted the Hurricanes to a 4-3 win and tied the series at two wins each.
RALEIGH, N.C. – Jussi Jokinen couldn’t sneak a late backhand past Martin Brodeur, so he parked himself in front of the net to distract the New Jersey Devils goaltender.
With the click of a skate, he saved the Carolina Hurricanes from the brink of playoff elimination.
Jokinen deflected in Dennis Seidenberg’s slap shot off his skate with 0.2 second remaining and the Hurricanes evened their series with New Jersey at two games by beating the Devils 4-3 Tuesday night.
Eric Staal, Ryan Bayda and Chad LaRose also scored and Seidenberg finished with two assists for the Hurricanes, who blew a 3-0 lead but regrouped just in time to avoid a third straight overtime game.
Jokinen started the dramatic sequence when he tried to stuff a backhander past Brodeur with about 7 seconds remaining. The puck circled around to Joni Pitkanen near the blue line and he passed off to Seidenberg, who unloaded a hard blast from the point.
“I knew it was close, so I just tried to get the puck to the net,” Seidenberg said.
It got there – right after it clicked off the Finn’s left skate and past Brodeur’s low left side as time expired.
Canucks 3, Blues 2, OT: At St. Louis, Alex Burrows scored his second goal of the game with 18.9 seconds to go in overtime and Roberto Luongo made 47 saves to help Vancouver complete a first-round sweep.
Kyle Wellwood also scored for the Canucks, who swept a four-game series for the first time in franchise history. Vancouver won a series before the seventh game for the first time in 12 tries since 1994.
Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1: At Columbus, Ohio, Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals and the Wings dominated from start to finish to grab a 3-0 lead in their first-round series.
The first NHL playoff game at Nationwide Arena – in the Blue Jackets’ 659th game – was a mammoth letdown for a franchise-record crowd of 19,219.
Penguins 3, Flyers 1: A sliding Sidney Crosby scored a goal that ricocheted off his skate, his midsection and into the back of the net to spark Pittsburgh to a 3-1 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
Marc-Andre Fleury was sensational with 45 saves and the Penguins grabbed a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Sharks 4, Ducks 3: At Anaheim, Calif., Patrick Marleau scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 9:27 left, and the Sharks evaded a daunting playoff deficit with a 4-3 victory over Anaheim in Game 3, trimming the Ducks’ series lead to 2-1.
Dan Boyle had two goals and an assist for the top-seeded Sharks.