NHL

Bruins avoid sweep

BOSTON -- Dan McGillis scored twice and the Bruins finally beat Martin Brodeur, driving the goalie from the game and staying alive with a 5-1 playoff win over the Devils on Tuesday night.

Brodeur allowed three goals as New Jersey won the first three games. But in Game 4, he was replaced by Corey Schwab 3:37 into the third period after Boston scored twice in two minutes.

"That's the playoffs," Bruins right wing Glen Murray said. "Now our goal is to get him out of there earlier in Game 5."

The Bruins' Jeff Hackett allowed one goal by Scott Niedermayer at 1:37 of the third as Boston forced a fifth game in the best-of-seven series. It will be Thursday night in New Jersey.

The Bruins entered Tuesday's game facing a daunting challenge. Only two teams had won series after trailing 3-0.

Now Boston can force a sixth game Saturday at home.

The Devils' Brodeur was beaten twice by defenseman McGillis, who has three goals in the series after scoring three in 71 regular-season games, and once by Joe Thornton, Martin Lapointe and Marty McInnis.

STARS 3, OILERS 1: Stu Barnes scored the winning goal on a bank shot from behind the net as visiting Dallas tied the series 2-2.

Barnes' goal, his first of the playoffs, careened off the skate of Oilers captain Jason Smith past goaltender Tommy Salo and gave the Stars a 2-1 lead 3:45 after Edmonton tied it early in the third.

Rookie Niko Kapanen clinched it 23 seconds later. Kapanen roared across the front of the net and backhanded the puck past Salo.

The series heads back to Dallas for Game 5 on Thursday night.

Sergei Zubov's first-period goal staked the Stars to a 1-0 lead they nursed into the third. Then Shawn Horcoff scored at 2:07, setting up what could have been a repeat of Sunday's game, when Edmonton stormed back to win.

PENGUINS: Pittsburgh fired coach Rick Kehoe. His 55-81-14-10 record was the worst of any Penguins coach since the mid-1980s, and he was the first since Bob Berry (1984-87) to miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Pittsburgh was 27-44-6-5 this season.

Late Monday

DUCKS 2, RED WINGS 1: Mighty surprising, those Ducks.

After being swept by Detroit in their two earlier trips to the playoffs, Anaheim is one victory from sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champion.

With goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere swatting, smothering and otherwise stopping the Red Wings' shots with his stick, glove and feet in the first three games, the Ducks go into tonight's Game 4 with a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

A sweep by Anaheim, which went four-and-out against Detroit in the 1997 and 1999 playoffs -- would be a major upset. The only team to win the Stanley Cup and be swept in the first round the following season was the Maple Leafs, who lost four straight to eventual Cup winner Detroit in 1952.

MAPLE LEAFS: Veteran left winger Shayne Corson left the team, ending a season marred by illness and waning production. Corson, 36, a healthy scratch, apparently told coach and general manager Pat Quinn after the game that he was leaving the team and would not return.

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