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Show DAILY Sunday, April 23, 2006 HERALD NHL PLAYOFFS Sabres sink Flyers in Game | BUFFALO, NY. — Daniel Briere tipped in Jochen Hecht's centering pass 7:31 into the secondovertimeto give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 ’ of Eastern Conferenceplayoff series Saturdaynight. Tim Connollyand Jay McK- ee also scored for the Sabres, who wonafter squandering a 2-0 leadin the postseason opener. Philadelphia's Simon Gagne forced overtimewith a power- PAUL CONNORS/Associated Press play goal with 1:51left in Elliott Sadier,far left with flames, Kyle Petty (45), Joe Nemechek, regulation. Robert Esche was strong in stopping 55 shots, and Mike Knuble had a goal andassist for the Flyers. With a delayed penaltybeing called against the Flyers, Hecht gotto a loose puck intheleft circle of the Philadelphia zone. Circling along theleft boards, he sneakeda passinto the middle, where the wide-open middle rear, partially obscured, and Reed Sorenson (41) are amongthoseinvolvedin a five-car crash on Saturdayat PhoenixInternational Racewayin Avondale, Ariz. Harvick perfect in Phoenix desert Briere stuck hisstick out and directed the puck past a helpless Esche. Jenna Fryer » Devils 6, Rangers 1: At East Rutherford, N.J., Patrik Elias scored two of New Jersey's goals and the Devils earned beating the Rangersin the final five gamesof the regular seasontoallowthe Devils to winthe Atlantic Division on thelast day,tied it at 1 on'rookie Petr Prucha’s first-period, power-play goal. But the Rangers, playing their first postsea- son gamesince 1997, were hurt bya slew of penalties in the second andthird. The Rangerstook 13 penal- ties in all. Elias gave NewJerseya 1-0 lead during NewYork'sfirst infraction, and Gomez and defenseman Ken Kleebeat Rangers rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist in the second. Rafalski, Lan- genbrunner and Elias madeit a blowoutin the third. Thefinal New Jersey goal, DAVID DUPREY AssociatedPress Buffalo Sabres’ Daniel Briere (48) pokes the puck underthe:pads of Philadelphia Flyers goalie Robert Esche, who makesa save as Flyers’ Denis Gauthier (23) helps defend on Saturday. scored with 4:26 remaining, might prove way more costly to New Yorkthan just on the scoreboard. Right after Elias scored, Rangers scoring leader Jaromir Jagr was helped to the dressing room with an appar- entleg injury. Game2 is Mondaynight. » Canadiens6, Hurricanes 1: At Raleigh, N.C., Cristobal Huet made43 saves, 12 play- ers recorded points and Montreal made up for four lopsided losses to Carolina during the regular season with a blowout victory in Game of the East- ern Conferenceseries. Alex Kovalev had twogoals and Francis Bouillon, Radek chael Liles scored power-play Bonk, Chris Higgins and Shel- don Souray each added one for seventh-seeded Montreal, goals 2:04 apart in the second . period and seventh-seeded which ended the regular sea- son with fourlossesin last six games. TheHurricanes earned the secondseed in the conferencewith the best season in franchise history, a run that included a 4-0 record against Montreal. None werereally close, with the combined margin ofthefinal three 20-6. Matt Cullen scored Carolina’s only goal 50 seconds into thefirst period. Game2 is Monday night. D Avalanche5, Stars 2: At Dallas, Rob Blake and John-Mi- Colorado overcameanearly 2-0deficit to win Game1 ofthe WesternConferenceseries. Coloradocut the 2-0 deficit in half before the endofthefirst period, and hadthree goals in the second. Rookie winger Wojtek Wolski tied it at 2 be- fore BlakeandLiles scored. Milan Hejduk and Brett Clark alsoscored for the Avalanche. Joe Sakic, the Avs’ captain and leadingscorer, had two ssists, and Jose Theodore s Bill Guerin and Brenden Morrowscored for Dallas. Game2 is Mondaynight 30. 40. Prrs/7OR13«Pl yea CASH CARD WHEN YOU BUY 4 SELECT GOODYEAR TIRES! TOURING ~PIBSIBSR-14. P2OSI65R-15. career Nextel Cupvictory with a smoky celebratory spin on the frontstretch. He,too, had feared he might run out of gas, but didnthaveto pushit because the competition was so farback. “We didn't have the best car all day, but we had the best car whenit counted,” Harvick said. Stewart was second,a remarkablefeat considering he hadto forfeit his qualifying spot (third) andstart last in the 43carfield because of a mistake by his championship-winning crew. Stewart's team accidentally turned his qualifyingtires into Goodyear, rendering them unusable for the start of the race. NASCARpenalized him by sendinghim to the back, but he TRUCK/SUV P235/75R- 15...°66 585 TRAILER & ATV TIRES IN-STOCK! coopfrean [imatit DUNLOP: Gntinenial® YOKOHAMA RmDGESTORE American Fork, 661 W State Rd 801-763-8604 Lindon, 564 Lindon Pkwy 801-765-1702 Orem, 1325 South State 801-225-1738 M-F: 8:00-6, SAT.: 8:00-5 APPOINTMENTSAVAILABLE matched by Edwards. That doesn’t mean the Utes won't try another quarterback or two,if the first option is struggling mightily. But with four he feels comfortable with, Offer valid 4/6/06 to 5/6/06. Mailn rebate offer. See store for details. Otter valid 4/2/06 to 4/29/06, Mail.n rebate otter. See store for details. discounttire.com close. Harvick coasted to the finish line,then celebrated his Utah UPTO 40 i “ Harvick down and he never got Continued from D1 PERFORMANCE PYO5IG0R 15 oem47 P205/55R- 16.69 WHEN YOU BUY 4 SELECT BRIDGESTONE TIRES! MarkMartin’s tank went dry.It left only Tony Stewart to chase Bowyer, Harvick’s teammate, for 11] laps, wound up lith and Biffle ended up 16th. It was a heartbreaking defeat for Biffle, who had the car to beatforat least the third time this season only to fall victim to yet another bad break. Hedid, however, gain twospotsin the standingsto 21st. “I feel bad for Greg,it’s hard to look at the good side if you are him,” said Kenseth, his teammate.“He had a car good enough to win three or four times this season, and none ofits his fault. But I have no doubt Greg is going tomakethe Chase. “He's running so strong and there's no doubt in my mindhe's going to be a contenderat the end ofthe year.” The race was stopped 100 laps in after a multicar accidentcollected several cars and caused pole-sitter Kyle Busch to lose his temper. Away from the accident, Busch made contact with Casey Mears and spun. As the red flag cameoutto clean up the debris from thelarger accident, Busch headed to the garage for repairs — but not before passing by Mears and running intohis car. It earned Busch, who won here last November,a five-lap penalty and a meeting after the race with NASCARofficials. He finished 36th. His brother, Kurt, the defending race champion, was 24th. UTAH FOOTBALL ey _smuecton GOODSYEAR late fuel problems. Biffle ran out of gas, then wayuptothefront. Ceeen e7uibI8 win forthefirst time in more than a year. Once Harvick got byBiffle, it was clearsailing because the top challengers had stayed patient and worked his ‘R14 PISS)Pepe BFGoodrich was fifth. Martin, who led three times GregBiffle with 10 laps to go to rT jae Harvick dominated in the desert again Saturday night, winning the Nextel Cup race for International Raceway. Harvick, who wonthe Busch Series race Friday night, passed team-record five power-play enceseries. Scott Gomez,Brian Rafalski and Jamie Langenbrunneralso had power-playgoals. New York, whichlostits Matt Kensethfinished third to take over the Nextel Cup points standings lead. Carl Edwards was fourth and Clint a weekend sweep at Phoenix their 12th straight victory by openerof the Eastern Confer- AVONDALE,Ariz. — Kevin THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Game2of the best-of-seven series is Mondaynightin Buffalo. and starter Brian Johnson recovering nicely but slowly from knee surgery, they're inno hurry to pick one. Right now Brett Ratliff, last year’s season-et hero after he replaced Johnson and and nationally ranked Tech (Emerald Bow)), feattobe considered the favoriteif Johnson (who would be junior) can't get backin time. But he completed just 5-of-12 passes for 37 yards and a touchdownin Saturday's spring game, which concluded this season'sofficial sessions before.the drama for pecking orderreally heats up four months from now. Tommy Grady, the Oklahoma transfer, was the most stellar at 8-for-16, 144 yards anda pair of ‘scores. jhomore Kevin Dunn went 5-for-11,59, one touchdown pass. “Wehavethree guys who are ready right now, in my opin- ion,” Whitti said. “And oneguythat’s hurt.” Figurethree will have hurt feelings before the season starts, when Whittingham ultimately makes a decision. “You won't see a platoon system here,” he said. “You have to know who the guy is. You haveto havethe guy.I talked to LaVell, and jhe basically said the same thit For what it’s worth, the “Then, you kindofstart to wonderhow he’s comparin; to you, and what you could do better,” the senior said. “But I'm ‘Slad they're aroundto push me. Utah's Red-White gameessentially ran like BYU's a week ago.It was short (around an hour), most ly basic because of various injuries. And the public showing contained a skewed scoreboard from the start. Forthose keeping track of points, the second- and third- teamers (White) were given a 16-0 lead to start. They won, 22-21, when Dunn threw a perfectly timed 20-yard pass across the middle to Sean Smith onthe final play. Smith promptly eeto the goalpost, and basket! style dunked the ball over ite crossbar.Easily the most stylish moment of BYU or Utah's spring-ending sessions. The Utes, as expected, chose to spend most ofthe splendidly sunny afternoon showing off their passing game. Early, fans and coaches appeared frustrated by several should’ve-beencageballs that landed on the artificial turf. Sophomore Marquis Wilson was lauded by Whittingham for some nice late snares that capped what the coach deemed an exemplary spring. He has fivefirst or second-year wideouts he feels will contribute largely in the fall. Wereaeererrets appreciate oT te them all,” Grady said. same maybesaid about luxury to mix and match when scoreboards mean something. “Wehave not made a decision and we won't,” the secondyear coach said. “I've told them all to expect to be the numberone quarterback.” D Jason Franchuk can be reachedat jfranchuk@heraldextra.com. |