Rangers Avoid Elimination in NHL Playoffs; Red Wings Get Sweep

By Erik Matuszewski

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- The New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 to avoid elimination from the National Hockey League playoffs yesterday, while Detroit completed a four- game sweep of Colorado to reach the conference finals.

Jaromir Jagr scored twice for the Rangers at New York's Madison Square Garden, Brandon Dubinsky added a power-play goal and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots for his second career postseason shutout.

``Henrik was obviously terrific,'' Rangers coach Tom Renney said at a news conference. ``From the goaltender on out, I thought we were solid. We can get even better.''

Only two teams in NHL history have lost a best-of-seven playoff series after leading 3-0. The Penguins were one, getting ousted by the New York Islanders in 1975.

Pittsburgh, which had a seven-game playoff winning streak snapped yesterday, now holds a 3-1 lead in the second-round series. They host the Rangers in Game 5 in two days with another chance to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

``It's not easy to close out a series,'' Jagr said. ``We have to win four games. No matter if it's 3-0 or 3-1. Nobody gives us a chance, but the chance is still there.''

After a scoreless opening period, Jagr beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 7:15 left in the second period to give the Rangers their first lead since Game 1. It was the fourth goal of the postseason for Jagr, the former Penguin and current Rangers captain.

Lundqvist, who gave up 12 goals in the first 3 games of the series, kept the Rangers in front by stopping a penalty shot by Evgeni Malkin with 2:07 left in the second period.

Hooking Penalty

The Rangers extended their lead on Dubinsky's power-play goal 44 seconds into the third period. New York started the period with a man advantage after Pittsburgh's Petr Sykora was sent off for a hooking penalty with 46 seconds remaining in the second period. Jagr added an empty net goal with 14 seconds left to cap the scoring.

In Denver, the Red Wings routed the Avalanche 8-2 behind a hat trick by Johan Franzen to advance to the Western Conference finals for the second straight year.

Detroit lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks in last year's conference final.

Mikael Samuelsson and Henrik Zetterberg also scored two goals for the Red Wings last night, while Franzen pushed his postseason total to 11 goals. Franzen had nine goals against the Avalanche, an NHL record for a four-game series.

The Red Wings, who led 7-1 after two periods, will play Dallas or San Jose for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Dallas has a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 scheduled tonight in San Jose.