Nilson's Goal Lifts Flames Over Red Wings

DETROIT (AP) _ With fresh legs, the Detroit Red Wings threw everything they had at the weary Calgary Flames in the first period. They attacked on offense, and swarmed on defense. Two-plus

Friday, April 23rd 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DETROIT (AP) _ With fresh legs, the Detroit Red Wings threw everything they had at the weary Calgary Flames in the first period.

They attacked on offense, and swarmed on defense.

Two-plus periods later, they lost.

Marcus Nilson's first career playoff goal at 2:39 of overtime lifted Calgary to a 2-1 victory over the Red Wings on Thursday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

The Flames, playing their third straight overtime game after a long flight and just two days off, beat Vancouver in overtime in Game 7 of their first-round series after losing Game 6 in triple-overtime.

``We knew we were going to have to weather the storm early, and that's what we did,'' Flames coach Darryl Sutter said.

Detroit played its first overtime of the postseason after it got past Nashville in six games, and had four days of rest. The Red Wings have lost seven straight overtime playoff games at home and 10 of 12 overall, dating to 2000.

They prevented Calgary from shooting on Curtis Joseph for nearly 10 minutes and outshot the Flames 13-2 in the opening period.

``They dominated us in the first period,'' Iginla said. ``Kipper gave us a chance.''

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Detroit.

In other series openers, Philadelphia beat Toronto 3-1; and San Jose defeated Colorado 5-2.

Calgary's Robyn Regehr, who like Nilson played in his eighth postseason game, scored his first career playoff goal late in the second period to tie it at 1 after Robert Lang scored earlier in the period.

Jarome Iginla, a finalist for NHL MVP, didn't mind being held to just two shots.

``That's part of what's been so fun this year,'' he said. ``It's been somebody different scoring big goals each night. That's why we're where we're at.''

Kiprusoff is a big reason the Flames are in the second round for the first time since winning the Stanley Cup in 1989. And he helped them win their first Game 1 since the finals 15 years ago. Calgary was 0-7 in series openers since.

Kiprusoff's 28 saves lifted the Flames to their fourth straight road victory in the playoffs.

``It's huge,'' Kiprusoff said. ``We're playing the Detroit Red Wings.''

Joseph made 16 saves for Detroit, which was 3-0 at home this postseason.

On the winning goal, Martin Gelinas passed the puck from behind the net to Nilson, whose shot from the left circle got past Joseph's glove.

``He made a good shot,'' he said. ``I wish I would've had it.''

While Detroit had the NHL's best record this season, the sixth-seeded Flames boast two of the league's top players and Sutter, a finalist for coach of the year. Iginla is a finalist for the Hart Trophy and Kiprusoff is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which honors the league's top goalie.

Iginla led the NHL with 41 goals in the regular season and is among league leaders with eight points in the playoffs.

Kiprusoff allowed just 1.69 goals a game, the lowest average since Dave Kerr's 1.54 GAA in the 1939-40 season with the New York Rangers.

Kiprusoff faced a lot of pressure from the high-powered Red Wings, but only one shot got past him.

``It seems like he's always in good position,'' Detroit's Steve Yzerman said.

Kirk Maltby's shot found the net behind Kiprusoff midway through the first period, but the goal was negated because Kris Draper was penalized for goaltender interference.

The Red Wings struggled on the power play _ again. They were 0-for-6 with an extra attacker after going 2-for-29 against Nashville.

``The difference in the game was our power play,'' Detroit coach Dave Lewis said.

Flyers 3, Maple Leafs 1

At Philadelphia, Marcus Ragnarsson scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.

Tony Amonte and Simon Gagne also scored for Philadelphia. Alexander Mogilny scored for Toronto.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Sharks 5, Avalanche 2

At San Jose, Calif., Patrick Marleau had his second three-goal game of the postseason, and the Sharks scored three first-period goals.

Marleau scored San Jose's opening goal and added two more in 94 seconds midway through the second, chasing David Aebischer.

Vincent Damphousse and Scott Hannan also scored during the first period.

Steve Konowalchuk and Peter Forsberg scored power-play goals for the Avalanche.

Game 2 is Saturday at San Jose.