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Slick Sami Kapanen nets two to help Flyers take 3-2 lead in seriesPosted: Saturday April 19, 2003 5:46 PMUpdated: Sunday April 20, 2003 2:22 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Sami Kapanen picked an opportune time to break out of his yearlong scoring slump. Kapanen scored two power-play goals, and Tony Amonte had two assists, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Philadelphia leads 3-2 in the first-round, best-of-seven series. Game 6 is Monday night in Toronto. Dmitry Yushkevich and Simon Gagne also scored for Philadelphia, which took its first series lead. Aki Berg scored for the Leafs. After scoring a career-high 27 goals for Carolina last season, Kapanen had just 11 goals in his last 98 games, including playoffs. He had one goal in 23 playoff games last season when Carolina reached the Stanley Cup finals. "Being an offensive player and not putting up numbers, you can't help but get frustrated, and start thinking too much," said Kapanen, who came to the Flyers in a trade two months ago. "Hopefully, this will help my confidence. You get a couple breaks, a lucky bounce and you feel a whole lot better about yourself." The Flyers beat Toronto 3-2 in triple overtime Wednesday night. The Leafs won 4-3 in double overtime Monday night. Weary from playing the five overtimes, both teams allowed several odd-man rushes and played more wide open than usual. Though that style favors the Leafs, they couldn't take advantage. "We got the start we wanted, but for some reason, we got away from it," Leafs forward Owen Nolan said. Toronto had Alexander Mogilny back after the star right wing sat out Game 4 because of concussion symptoms. Mogilny, who had five goals in the first three games, was injured after being hit in the face with a high stick in Game 3. Mogilny hit the post on a short-handed, two-on-one breakaway in the second period, and was given a double minor for high-sticking in the third that led to Kapanen's second goal. "There's no doubt in our minds that we can play against this team and beat them," Mogilny said. After falling behind 1-0, the Flyers scored twice in a span of 1:55 later in the first. Yushkevich's goal with 3:35 left in the period gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Yushkevich took a pass from Jeremy Roenick and slapped it underneath Amonte's raised leg and past goaltender Ed Belfour for his first goal of the series. Kapanen's first goal, a deflection off a shot by Kim Johnsson, tied it at 1. Johnsson blasted a shot from the point that hit off Kapanen's stick, went between Roenick's legs and past Belfour. Berg gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead just 2:34 in on his first goal in 42 playoff games. Berg took a pass from Travis Green and slapped a shot from just outside the left circle past Roman Cechmanek. Belfour, who had a franchise-record 72 saves in Game 4, stopped 25 shots. Cechmanek made 22 saves. Seconds after the Flyers killed their third penalty, Gagne made it 3-1 with 5:25 left in the second. Justin Williams intercepted a pass to start a breakaway, and passed to Gagne, whose first shot was blocked by Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle. But Belfour couldn't control the puck, and Gagne poked it between his legs for his second goal of the series. "The turning point was Gagne's goal," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "It gave us the checking cushion that helped us a lot." Kapanen made it 4-1 with his second goal midway through the third. "He's a competitive, gritty little guy that has been a pretty good player in this league," Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "It looks now like it was a good acquisition." Players didn't wait until the game started to resume the physical side of the series. Roenick and Darcy Tucker, who have exchanged several hard checks throughout, had words during warmups. Enforcers Donald Brashear of Philadelphia and Toronto's Tie Domi went at it a few times during the game, but didn't fight. Notes: Before Kapanen scored his first goal, the Flyers had been
0-for-11 on the power play and 2-for-21 in the series. They also
allowed two short-handed goals. ... Yushkevich's goal was his
fourth in 64 playoff games and the fifth by a Flyers defenseman in
this series. ... Philadelphia has outshot Toronto 210-134. ...
Flyers D Eric Desjardins had to be helped to the locker room in the
third period after taking a slap shot off his foot. His status for
Game 6 won't be known until Sunday at the earliest. ... The Flyers
are 10-0 in best-of-seven series in which they won Game 5 after
being tied 2-2.
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