European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 22, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday april 22 2007 stars and stripes Page 43 acres finish islanders Advance the associated press Buffalo by Buffalo sabres coca Tain Daniel Briere had difficulty characterizing a Nail biting series clinching playoff Victo re made it exciting or scary Briere said he was sure about one thing in glad we ended up on top Buffalo advanced to the Eastern Confer ence semifinals by hanging on after nearly squandering a three goal Lead in the third period pull ing out a 43 Victory Over the new York islanders on Fri Day night the difference in winning the nil Roundup Besto seven first round series in five games came by the Slimmest of margins the length of sabres goalie Ryan Millers outstretched Glove with 12 seconds left with Miroslav satan bearing Down on him Miller flopped across the crease and blindly thrust out his Glove to deflect the puck just wide of the net i panicked and luckily got a hold of it Miller said we fought for everything we got Buffalo advanced to the second round for the second straight year and will face either the new York rangers of Tampa Bay should the lightning get past new Jersey the rang ers have already advanced after sweeping at Lanta while new Jersey is up 32 in its series after beating Tampa Bay 30 Friday night in the Western conference san Jose Defeated Nashville 32 to eliminate the predators in five games if the sabres Learned a lesson in desperation from the islanders new York the Nils version of team adversity can go Home with newfound respect the islanders eked into the playoffs by win Ning their final four games to Clinch the East s eighth and final playoff berth on the last Day of the season and they didst Back Down against the sabres the leagues to seeded team All season weve had these kind of situations when we were underdogs or everybody counting us out said satan a former sabres player who had a goal and assist this team kept battling and yet All satan could do was shake his head about that final play it was the save of the series satan said Dean Buffalo goalie Ryan Milter foreground makes a save during the final seconds of fridays playoff game against the new York islanders at Hsc Arena in Buffalo by the sabres won 43 if Only new York had played with a Little More consistency or gotten a few More Breaks the Isles were already unhappy after two contentious goals went against them the previous two games and they were playing without hard hitting Forward Chris Simon who was serving a league record 25game sus pension for using his stick to strike the rang ers Ryan Hollweg then hours before game 5 the islanders Learned they be without Sean Hill the Veter an defens Eman was hit with a 20game suspension by the nil for violating the leagues drug rules the suspension will carry into next season although if s unclear where Hill will be play ing Hes an unrestricted free agent after completing a oneyear contract devils 3 lightning 0 Martin Brodeur made 31 saves got a couple of big blocks from his defens Emen and goals from Andy Greene Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez who set up the first two goals game 6 is sunday afternoon in Tampa a seventh game if necessary would be played in new Jersey on tuesday night the game ended with two fights and devils assistant coach John Maclean and lightning coach John Tortorella screaming at each other from behind their respective benches Sharks 3 predators 2 Patrick Marleau scored his second goal with left and the Sharks grabbed a berth in the Western Confer ence semifinals for the third year in a Row Marleau tied the game with a Power play goal late in the second period and Ryan Clowe also scored As the Sharks closed out Nashville with a game 5 Victory on the predators Home ice for a second straight year Jason Arnott scored a Power play goal and Vernon fiddler also had a goal for Nashville which blew a 21 Lead in a penalty filled Sec Ond period two plead guilty in steroids probe agree to cooperate the associated press Albany by the owner and an employee of a Texas com Pany that processed orders for drugs including steroids pleaded guilty Friday to felony charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in a multistage probe into steroid sales Eugene Bolton 40 owner of sugar land Texas based cellular nucleonics advantage and 38yearold monday Miller an employee admitted to one drug count each Bolton faces up to six months in jail and five years pro Bation and Miller faces five years probation people would Call them based on their ads in muscle magazines and car magazines and say 1 want to get bigger prosecutor Christopher Baynes said Bostons company was in Busi Ness for about three years first Selling supplements and then steroids Baynes said Bolton and Miller acknowledged taking orders by phone for drugs filling out prescriptions and faxing them to physicians who would get s50 for signing each one without seeing the patients the prescriptions were then faxed to and filled by signature pharmacy an Orlando Fla based company that is at the Center of the investigation the defendants said Urcla Forward Shipp undergoes left hip surgery los Angeles Urcla for Ward Josh Shipp underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left hip Fri Day the same procedure the Sopho More had on his right hip in 2005 rehabilitation is expected to take 812 weeks with Shipp spending the first month on crutches according to or Carlos a Guanche Shipp had the same operation in september 2005 causing him to miss All but four games of the 200506 season he returned this season and averaged 132 Points As the Bruins no 2 scorer help ing them to a second straight final four appearance celtics guard Telfair arrested on gun charge Yonkers celtics guard Sebastian Telfair was arrested Early Friday after police stopped him for speeding and found a loaded handgun under a seat in his Sun Telfair 21 of Brooklyn was stopped at about 4 am on the Bronx River Parkway in Yon kers by after being clocked at 77 Mph in a 45 Mph zone Westchester county police spokesman Kieran Oleary said neither Telfair nor passenger Al Eden Fuentes had a valid Drivers License so Tel fairs Sun was set for impoundment and searched by an officer Oleary said the officer quickly noticed the butt of the handgun sticking out from under the passenger seat Oleary added Telfair and Fuentes pleaded not guilty Friday in Yonkers City court to charges including felony second degree Possession of a weapon and bail was set at the pair was due Back in court May 17 Kings fire Musselman Sacramento Calif the Sacramento Kings fired coach Eric Musselman on Friday after one tumultuous season the Kings went 3349 and missed the playoffs amid infighting and unimpressive play the club which reached the playoffs eight consecutive times before coach Rick Adelman was fired last summer wasted no time re moving Musselman the firing is a disastrous end to an Experiment by Sacramento own ers Joe and Gavin Maloof who dropped Adelman last summer apparently against the wishes of Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie nil scoreboard Eastern conference Buffalo is by islanders thursday april 12 Buffalo 4 by islanders saturday apr 14 by islanders 3 Buffalo monday Buffalo 3 by islanders 2 wednesday Buffalo 4 by islanders 2 Friday Buffalo 4 by islanders 3 Buffalo wins series 41 new Jersey is Tampa Bay thursday april 12 new Jersey 5 Tampa Bay 3 saturday april 14 Tampa Bay 3 new Jer sey 2 monday april 16 Tampa Bay 3 new Jer sey 2 wednesday new Jersey 4 Tampa Bay 3 of Friday new Jersey 3 Tampa Bay 0 new Jersey leads series 32 sunday new Jersey at Tampa Bay tuesday Tampa Bay at new Jersey if Nec Essary Atlanta is by rangers thursday april 12 by rangers 4 Atlanta 3 saturday april 14 by rangers 2 Atlanta 1 tuesday by rangers 7 Atlanta 0 wednesday by rangers 4 Atlanta 2 by rangers win series 40 Ottawa is Pittsburgh wednesday april 11 Ottawa 6 Pittsburgh 3 saturday april 14 Pittsburgh 4 Ottawa 3 sunday april 15 Ottawa 4 Pittsburgh 2 tuesday Ottawa 2 Pittsburgh 1 thursday Ottawa 3 Pittsburgh 0 Ottawa wins series 41 Western conference Detroit is Calgary thursday april 12 Detroit 4 Calgary 1 sunday april 15 Detroit 3 Calgary 1 tuesday april 17 Calgary 3 Detroit 2 thursday Calgary 3 Detroit 2 series tied 22 saturday Calgary at Detroit sunday Detroit at Calgary tuesday Calgary at Detroit if necessary Anaheim is Minnesota wednesday april 11 Anaheim 2 Minnesota 1 Friday april 13 Anaheim 3 Minnesota 2 sunday april 15 Anaheim 2 Minnesota 1 tuesday Minnesota 4 Anaheim 1 thursday Anaheim 4 Minnesota 1 Ana Heim wins series 41 Vancouver is Dallas wednesday april 11 Vancouver 5 Dallas 440t Friday april 13 Dallas 2 Vancouver 0 sunday april 15 Vancouver 2 Dallas 1 of tuesday Vancouver 2 Dallas 1 thursday Dallas 1 Vancouver 0 of Van Couver leads series 32 saturday Vancouver at Dallas monday Dallas at Vancouver if necessary Nashville is san Jose wednesday april 11 san Jose 5 Nashville 420t Friday april 13 Nashville 5 san Jose 2 monday april 16 san Jose 3 Nashville 1 wednesday san Jose 3 Nashville 2 Friday san Jose 3 Nashville 2 san Jose wins series 41 Friday sabres 4 islanders 3 by islanders 0 0 33 Buffalo 1 2 14 first Buffalo Stafford 1 Connolly second Buffalo Pominville 2 393 Buffalo Roy 1 Kotalik amino third period4 by islanders satan 1 Campoli Buffalo Afinogenov 1 638 6 by islanders Hunter 3 Gervais by islanders Cam poli 1 Park shots on Galny islanders 961833 Buffalo 814527 Power play islanders oof 4 Buffalo oof 4 goalie Sny islanders Dipietro 13 27 shots23 Buffalo Miller 41 a18690 devils 3 lightning 0 Tampa Bay 0 0 new Jersey 1 1 13 first new Jersey Greene 1 Rupp second period2 new Jersey Gionta 3 Gomez third period3 new Jersey Gomez 2 shots on Goa Tampa Bay 814931 new Jersey Power play Bay 0 of 3 new Jersey 0 of 5 Bay Holmqvist 23 13 shots11 new Jersey Brodeur 32 a18096 Sharks 3 predators 2 san Jose 1 1 13 Nashville 0 2 02 first san Jose Clowe 3 Bernier second Nashville Amott 2 Weber 3 Nashville fid Dler 1 Forsberg 4 san Jose Marleau 2 Guerin third san Jose Marleau 3 Thornton shots on goal san Jose 1417637 Nash Ville 89724 Power play Jose 1 of 7 Nashville 1 of 4 goalies an Jose Nabokov 41 24 shots22 Nashville Vokoun 14 a17113