NEW YORK, 24 April 2004 — Patrick Marleau scored three goals for the second time in the playoffs as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 to secure the opening game of their Western Conference second round series on Thursday.
Marleau scored the first goal and added a pair of goals 94 seconds apart in the second period as the Sharks put on a high-geared offensive display in San Jose. Vincent Damphousse and Scott Hannan hit the other goals for the Sharks, who jumped into a 3-0 lead in the first period. Niko Dimitrakos added three assists.
David Aebischer was pulled after allowing five goals on just 17 shots in favor of Tommy Salo in the Colorado goal. Salo stopped all seven shots he faced. Steve Konowalchuk and Peter Forsberg scored the goals for the Avalanche, who outshot the Sharks 28-24.
Evgeni Nabakov made 26 saves in goal for San Jose. Matthew Barnaby instigated one of three simultaneous fights with 1:35 to play in the game, as several players received misconducts in a rough final few minutes.
Flames 2 Red Wings 1:
Marcus Nilson scored his first career playoff goal at 2:39 of overtime to hand the Calgary Flames a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings in the opening game of their Western Conference semifinal series.
Playing just three nights after winning game seven of their opening round series in overtime against the Vancouver Canucks, the Flames still had enough energy to contain the Red Wings in Detroit.
The Red Wings beat Nashville in six games in their opening round and had a few extra days of rest. But the Flames hung in most of the night, despite being outshot 29-18, to finally prevail on Nilson’s overtime winner.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves in goal for the Flames to continue his solid play in the post-season. Curtis Joseph made just 16 saves in goal for the Red Wings.
The Flames have now played three straight overtime games and have won their last four games on the road in the playoffs. After a scoreless first period, Robert Lang opened the scoring for Detroit at 6:14 of the second period. But that would be the only puck to get past Kiprusoff all night.
Robyn Regehr tied the game for the Flames at 17:57 in the second, as the teams were tied 1-1 after 40 minutes despite Detroit outshooting Calgary 22-11.
Flyers 3 Maple Leafs 1:
Marcus Ragnarsson scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Robert Esche made 22 saves to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first game of their second round series.
The Flyers take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series. The Maple Leafs were playing just two nights after eliminating the Ottawa Senators in game seven of the opening round while the Flyers were well rested after eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
The Flyers opened the scoring on a goal by Tony Amonte at 7:14, but despite being out-shot 11-3 in the opening period, the Maple Leafs tied the game seven minutes later on a goal by Alexander Mogilny. Ragnarsson then put the Flyers ahead for good with his goal five minutes into the second period, beating Ed Belfour to make it 2-1.
