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Hossa's goal sends Penguins to conference final

May 4, 2008 - 11:56 PM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - Marian Hossa was acquired at the trade deadline to enhance the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup hopes. On Sunday, he propelled them into the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in seven years.

Hossa scored his second goal of the game 7:10 into overtime Sunday as the Penguins eliminated the New York Rangers in five games with a 3-2 victory.

Pittsburgh survived a spirited comeback by New York, which erased a 2-0 deficit with two quick goals early in the third period, to set up an all-Pennsylvania battle with the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference finals.

"This feels good," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, whose team has lost only one game in the postseason.

"There's a lot of stuff that's said and goes on during a playoff series. It feels good when you come out on the other side of it, the winning side, when you shaking hands. It's rewarding, for sure."

Scrambling at times in the third period, the Penguins dominated the overtime, registering all six shots in the extra session.

They finally cashed in when Hossa collected a loose puck in the slot and snapped a quick wrist between the pads of Vezina Trophy finalist Henrik Lundqvist.

"I saw (Pascal Dupuis) was carrying the puck on the left side, and Sid was driving hard to the net," said Hossa, who has five goals in nine playoff games. "It kind of bounced off him and the puck just kind of came to me and I just tried to shoot at the net."

Lundqvist kept the Rangers in the game with 38 saves. He was his best in the second period, when the Penguins used their superior speed to outshoot the Rangers, 17-4. The Swedish netminder turned aside 29 shots in New York's 3-0 victory in Game Four.

"I really believe we deserved to win," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "We were in control of the game. In the second period, (his players) really stepped up their game.

"Lundqvist was phenomenal again today; he was phenomenal in Game Four in New York as well. Today he was tough to beat. We had some quality scoring chances to win this game. This is a tough team to play against."

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second on goals by Hossa and All-Star Evgeni Malkin in a span of less than four minutes.

But the Rangers came alive early in the third, tying the contest on goals by Lauri Korpikoski and Nigel Dawes 62 seconds apart. A 21-year Finnish center, Korpikoski was making his NHL debut.

"It wasn't the best feeling after (leading) 2-0 and leading pretty much the whole game to give up two goals and go to overtime," Malkin said through an interpreter.

"But most importantly, we stayed mentally all together. We went into the locker room and everybody got the right feeling, so we just said, 'We'll hold together and score.'"

New York survived a double minor called against Chris Drury for high sticking with 78 seconds left in the third period.

"The penalty I took was not at a good time; the guys did a good job of killing it," said Drury, who left the game briefly in the second period after, ironically, taking a high stick by Ryan Malone to the face which drew blood but no penalty. "I thought we showed a lot of courage and guts coming back in the third."

It was a disappointing exit for the Rangers, who had expectations of advancing behind the conference semifinals after signing free agents Drury and Scott Gomez last summer.

"It's tough to swallow," New York coach Tom Renney said. "It's as simple as that. We wanted to keep playing and we thought that we were starting to play our best hockey, at least in the playoffs."

In the first two periods Sunday, however, the Rangers managed only 11 shots - a mark they doubled in the third period.

New York also struggled with the man advantage, managing only one shot on its four power plays.

In addition to overcoming the late double minor to Drury, the Rangers killed off four penalties in the second period. But Hossa scored on Pittsburgh's first power play to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead just 8:45 in the second period.

"We got ourselves into trouble again (Sunday) with some penalties and there were some momentum swings because of that," Renney added. "We were unable to manage that. I t's disappointing. We have to suck it up."