TORONTO, 6 May 2004 — Jeremy Roenick scored his second goal of the game 7:39 into overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs and a spot in the conference finals.
Philadelphia carried the momentum from Sunday’s 7-2 rout into Game Six, grabbing a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Radovan Somik and Roenick, who entered with just one assist in the series.
But the Maple Leafs battled back in the third, when defenseman Karel Pilar and captain Mats Sundin tallied six minutes apart to force the extra period. Just 15 seconds after Belfour thwarted Mark Recchi on a 2-on-1 rush, Roenick led another into the Toronto zone.
From the right faceoff circle, the veteran center snapped a shot that beat Belfour high to the glove side, sending the Flyers to the conference finals for the third time in eight years.
The San Jose Sharks also booked a spot in the next round by beating the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Tuesday to take their series four games to two.
After playing just one period in Game Five and leaving with flu-like symptoms, Robert Esche was superb in the clincher, making 34 saves.
Philadelphia begins the conference finals Saturday at top-seeded Tampa Bay.
Scoring first in nine of their first 10 playoff games, the Flyers continued the trend when Somik took a pass from Michal Handzus in the left corner and moved to the slot before firing the puck into the top right corner at 9:55 of the first.
In Denver, Vincent Damphousse scored his fifth goal of the series to spark a second-period flurry as the Sharks advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time in their 13-year history with a triumph over Colorado.
Second-seeded San Jose made good on its third crack at eliminating Colorado, which was trying to become the third team in NHL history to win a best-of-seven series after dropping the first three games.
Back home after posting consecutive overtime victories, the Avalanche showed little urgency and mustered just two shots in the first period. The second was even worse for Colorado as the Sharks scored three times in a span of just over 10 minutes.
Damphousse put San Jose in front at the 94-second mark, getting a rebound at the bottom of the left faceoff circle and shooting it just past the right arm of goaltender David Aebischer.
Playing just his second postseason game, rookie Marcel Goc made it 2-0 at 8:59 when he got a piece of teammate Curtis Brown’s shot while driving to the net.
Jonathan Cheechoo capped the outburst at 12:03, finishing off a 2-on-1 by faking a slap shot and dragging the puck through the right circle before snapping a wrister by Aebischer for his third playoff goal.
Milan Hejduk spoiled Evgeni Nabokov’s shutout bid during a two-man advantage with 2:26 to go in the period, but San Jose limited Colorado’s chances in the third period and will face the sixth-seeded Calgary Flames in an unlikely battle for a spot in the Stanley Cup finals.
