Ducks' OT Magic Still Good

2003 Playoffs

Minnesota defenseman Filip Kuba's turnover on the Anaheim blue line led to a 2-on-1 for the Ducks. Mike Leclerc carried the puck up and slid a pass to Sykora, who lifted a shot under the crossbar.

"Mike made a beautiful play on the wall. We went 2-on-1," Sykora said. "I was kind of surprised, but I was just hoping to get the puck through. Mike again made another really good play and it was a 1-on-1. I tried my move, and it worked."

Jean-Sebastien Giguere extended his playoff overtime shutout streak to 159 minutes, 5 seconds, the second-longest in NHL history.

"Once again, Jiggy kept us in the game," said Sykora.

Specialty teams were the key to the game with Minnesota going 0-for-5 on the power play. The Ducks had only one chance with an extra skater.

"Your penalty kill is everything," Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. "In reality, our special teams won us the game by giving us the opportunity to get there."

Senators Take Opener In OT
Shaun Van Allen scored his first career playoff goal 3:08 into overtime, lifting the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game One of the Eastern Conference finals.

"I'm still tingling," Van Allen said. "It's been a long time in the making, and it was a big goal, but my linemates deserve a lot of credit."

Chris Neil and Todd White also scored and Patrick Lalime made 27 saves for the Senators. Joe Nieuwendyk and Jay Pandolfo scored for the Devils.

"We've been learning through the years," Lalime said. "Adversity, the last few years, we've had some good playoffs, but not as good as this. And now we start to believe we can do it, and that's probably the difference this year."

"I don't think anybody's going to panic in this locker room," Nieuwendyk said. "It sure would've been nice to get this one after coming back. But they're a good hockey club over there."

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is at Ottawa on Tuesday.