SCOREBOARD
Friday, April 20
Tampa Bay at New Jersey (7 p.m. EDT). The Devils tied the series with an overtime win on Wednesday night.
STAR
Wednesday
-Zach Parise and Scott Gomez, Devils. Parise scored his fifth and sixth goals of the postseason, and Gomez got the game-winner in overtime, helping New Jersey to a 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay.
-Chris Drury, Sabres, scored twice to help top-seeded Buffalo beat the New York Islanders 4-2.
-Milan Michalek, Sharks, scored two goals in San Jose’s 3-2 victory over Nashville.
SWEET SWEEP
The New York Rangers advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997 with Wednesday’s 4-2 win over Atlanta. The 4-0 sweep was the Rangers’ first since the opening round of the 1994 playoffs – the year they last won the Stanley Cup.
THRASHED
Marian Hossa, Atlanta’s leader this season with 43 goals and a career-high 100 points, managed only one assist in the Thrashers’ four straight losses to the New York Rangers. Slava Kozlov, second with 80 points, was blanked in the series. Ilya Kovalchuk had just a goal and assist after netting 42 goals in the regular season.
SHARK WEAK
Nashville is winless in the seven road playoff games in franchise history after Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to San Jose. The Predators, one game from elimination after finishing third overall in the regular-season standings, haven’t won in their last 10 trips to the Shark Tank.
SUSPENDED
Anaheim Ducks forward Brad May was suspended for three games Wednesday for punching Minnesota Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson in the back of the head in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. May was given a match penalty and a game misconduct for attacking Johnsson in the final moments of Minnesota’s 4-1 win Tuesday night. Johnsson sustained a head injury, didn’t make the trip to Anaheim and won’t play in Game 5 Thursday night.
SPEAKING
“We weren’t even close to being competitive in the playoffs. There should be no sense of accomplishment whatsoever.” – Atlanta forward Bobby Holik after the Thrashers’ first trip to the playoffs ended in a 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.