Unlikely Pair Leads Detroit Over Colorado in Overtime

In a game that matched talent-laden teams on both sides, it was a goaltender who wasn’t expected to play and a forward who hadn’t scored a point in the playoffs who made the biggest impacts.

Bill Ranford stopped 37 shots and Kirk Maltby scored 4:18 into overtime, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in the opening game of their second-round playoff series Friday night at Denver.

Ranford, who started in goal in place of the injured Chris Osgood, sidelined because of a sprained right knee, was outstanding, particularly in the third period when he made 16 saves, several of the acrobatic variety.

Maltby, stationed just right of the goal, took a pass from Kris Draper behind the net and put the puck past Patrick Roy to give the Red Wings, who swept the Mighty Ducks in the first round, their fifth consecutive victory in the postseason.

Both teams survived five-minute penalties against them, but the Avalanche couldn’t overcome the loss of its best player, Peter Forsberg, who was assessed a game misconduct late in the second period.

“I learned this morning,” Ranford said of Coach Scotty Bowman’s decision to start him. “Ozzie is doing better every day, but they decided to give him a couple more days of rest.

“When you haven’t played for three-plus weeks, I tried not to get too wound up in the game early on. I got my feet underneath me as the game went on. The fatigue factor was a big concern, but I just tried to shut that out.”

Ranford, the league’s playoff MVP while with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990, was acquired by the Red Wings from the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 23 but hadn’t played since the Red Wings’ next-to-last regular-season game on April 14.

“Billy was great,” said Bowman, who notched his 199th playoff victory--an NHL record. “Our guys have a lot of confidence in him.”

Maltby said he saw Draper “get the puck behind the net and tried to get open for him. I just wanted to get the shot off quickly and toward the net. I was fortunate to get it past Patrick.”

Roy finished with 31 saves.

Game 2 is Sunday at Denver.

Pittsburgh 2, Toronto 0--The Penguins also had a surprise star in their playoff victory at Toronto, as Dan Kesa, who scored only two goals during the regular season and hadn’t even managed a shot during the playoffs, scored the winner.

“We know they’re a great team offensively, so we have to stop them through the neutral zone and not let them get any speed up,” Kesa said. “We did that pretty well.”

Jaromir Jagr played at only half speed because of a strained groin and Pittsburgh’s offense managed only 19 shots.

Penguin goaltender Tom Barrasso got the shutout by making 20 saves. The shutout was Barrasso’s first in the playoffs in three years and his sixth in 108 playoff games.

Pittsburgh was one for three on the power play, with Kesa scoring in the first period, and Toronto was 0 for four.

“The puck came to me in the slot and I saw [Curtis] Joseph was down, so I just teed it up and went high,” Kesa said. “I got two goals all year and to get one on the power play on Hockey Night in Canada is a pretty good feeling.”

German Titov added an empty-net goal with 37 seconds to play.

Game 2 is Sunday night at Toronto.