NEW YORK, 18 April 2004 — Martin St. Louis scored at 4:07 of overtime as the Tampa Bay Lightning became the second team to advance to the second round of the playoffs with a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders 3-2 in Tampa on Friday.
The Lightning won the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series 4-1 and will continue to have home ice advantage for the rest of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
St. Louis, the NHL’s regular season scoring champions, converted a wrist shot from the face-off circle as the Lightning sent the Islanders to a first round playoff loss for the third straight year. Nikolai Khabibulin made 24 saves in goal for the Lightning, which out-shot the Islanders 37-26 and scored on their only shot of the extra period.
Rick DiPietro made 34 saves for the Islanders, but the Lightning delighted the hometown crowd by advancing to the second round of the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history.
Oleg Kvasha opened the scoring for the Islanders in the first period, but the Lightning went ahead on second period goals by Tim Taylor and Ruslan Fedotenko to lead 2-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Mark Parrish gave the Islanders some life, however, when he scored on the power play at 7:28 of the third period, setting the stage for overtime.
Tampa Bay join the Western Conference’s San Jose in the next round a day after the Sharks eliminated the St Louis Blues.
In the other playoff game, Ed Belfour made 21 saves for his third shutout of the series as the Maple Leafs blanked the Ottawa Senators 2-0 in Toronto.
The Maple Leafs now lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 and can wrap up the series with a win in Game Six in Ottawa today.
The Leafs were without their captain, Mats Sundin, who suffered an ankle injury in Game Four but still found a way to continue their playoff mastery over the Senators, a team they have beaten in three previous playoff series.
Tie Domi and Joe Nieuwendyk scored the goals for Toronto in the third period, who were out-shot for the fifth straight time in the series, this time 21-16. But Belfour came up with several big saves as the Leafs won despite going for more than 25 minutes during one period in the game without registering a shot on goal. Patrick Lalime made 14 saves in goal for Ottawa.
Vancouver Police Wrap Up Probe Into Bertuzzi Punch
In Vancouver, police said Friday they had wrapped up a probe into a punch by Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi, which left an opponent with a fractured neck, and pro ice hockey on trial in the media. Prosecutors must now decide whether to take the case to court.
“Investigators have forwarded all information and all evidence gathered to Regional Crown Counsel for its consideration,” said a Vancouver police statement.
