SCOREBOARD
Thursday, May 3
Vancouver at Anaheim (9 p.m. EDT). With a win in Game 5, the Ducks will advance to the Western Conference finals for the second straight year and third time in four seasons.
STARS
Wednesday
-Mathieu Schneider, Red Wings, scored an unassisted power-play goal with 3:56 left in the first overtime to give Detroit a 3-2 win at San Jose.
-Dany Heatley, Senators, had a goal and an assist in Ottawa’s 3-2 win over New Jersey.
STEALING A WIN
Detroit got the tying goal from Robert Lang in the final minute of regulation and the winner from defenseman Mathieu Schneider on the power play 16:04 into overtime to beat San Jose 3-2 in Game 4 of the Western semifinals on Tuesday night. The Red Wings, who trailed by two goals in the final seconds of the second period, posted their second comeback win after a 2-0 deficit in this series.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS
Ray Emery helped Ottawa take a 3-1 series lead in its semifinal against New Jersey with 29 saves in Wednesday night’s 3-2 victory. But Emery had his home shutout streak snapped at 153 minutes, 33 seconds when he surrendered Brian Gionta’s power-play goal early in the second period. He hadn’t allowed a goal at Scotiabank Place since Sidney Crosby scored 11:44 into the third period of Pittsburgh’s 4-3 win in Game 2, the Senators’ only loss in the first round.
RECORD-SETTING SHARKS
San Jose’s Joe Thornton got an assist in his seventh straight playoff game, a 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit on Wednesday night, to tie Jeff Norton’s franchise record. Also, teammate Patrick Marleau tied Mike Rathje for most playoff games in Sharks history with 71.
AGAINST THE ODDS
New Jersey trails Ottawa three games to one in the Eastern Conference semifinals after its 3-2 loss on Wednesday night. The Devils have faced a 3-1 deficit six times previously and came back to win one series, when they beat Philadelphia in the 2000 Eastern Conference final.
COMING BACK
Sabres forward Paul Gaustad has been cleared to play and could return Friday when Buffalo hosts the New York Rangers in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal. Gaustad has been out since severing a tendon above his left ankle Feb. 7.
SPEAKING
“How would you feel in life if someone’s trying to take something from you? There’s people who just concede and hand it over. And there’s people that fight for it. And I think we have to do a little more fighting.” – Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Sabres facing adversity for the first time in this year’s playoffs. Buffalo has lost the last two games of its semifinal series with the New York Rangers after winning the first two.