LOS ANGELES - Computer Glitch Knocks Out Arena's Lights, Game Interrupted

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Title: Red Wings 3, Kings 0

Story Filed: Thursday, April 20, 2000 1:51 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The lights in Staples Center went out for 25 minutes, and the Los Angeles Kings' power play never came on. The Detroit Red Wings' penalty-killing unit made certain of it.

Pat Verbeek and Larry Murphy scored power-play goals 1:57 apart late in the first period and Chris Osgood earned his eighth career playoff shutout as the Red Wings beat the Kings 3-0 Wednesday night to sweep their first-round series.

Sergei Fedorov scored an empty-netter on a breakaway with 51 seconds remaining. Some of the numerous red-and-white-clad Red Wings fans tossed octopuses entwined with strips of red cloth onto the ice after Fedorov's third goal of the series.

The Red Wings clinched the Western Conference series in Scotty Bowman's 100th playoff game as coach. His playoff record of 67-33 in seven seasons with Detroit includes consecutive Stanley Cup championships.

Osgood made 25 saves for his second 2-0 shutout of the series. Detroit won the first game by the same score. Stephane Fiset stopped 25 shots.

The Kings were swept out of the playoffs for the seventh time in franchise history and second in three years, having lost four straight to St. Louis in 1998. They have lost 12 consecutive playoff games since winning Game 1 of the 1993 Stanley Cup finals against Montreal.

The start of the third period was delayed for 25 minutes when a computer glitch knocked out the arena's halogen lights, and both teams were sent back to their dressing rooms. The game's first delay occurred in the second period when two plexiglass panels broke, resulting in a seven-minute stoppage.

Los Angeles went 0-for-23 on the power play in the series -- including 0-for-7 Wednesday -- against a Detroit penalty-killing unit that is tied for first in the NHL.

The Kings were done in by bad penalties once again. They lost 2-1 after two high-sticking penalties led to Detroit power-play goals in Game 3 Monday.

With Jozef Stumpel off for crosschecking Chris Chelios, Verbeek gave Detroit a 1-0 lead with his only goal of the series at 17:10 of the first period.

Mattias Norstrom was called for holding Fedorov's stick, which set up Murphy's first goal of the series that put Detroit ahead 2-0 at 19:41.

A shot by Brendan Shanahan hit the post, resulting in a wild six-player crease scramble that caught Fiset at the bottom. With his legs blocked, Fiset wasn't able to get up and Murphy, a former King in the playoffs for the 17th consecutive season, fired a sharply angled shot from the left side into an open net.

Twice the Kings had power-play chances in the second period, but never seriously threatened when they failed to get traffic in front of Osgood and wasted precious seconds setting up shots that went awry.

Trailing 2-0, one of the Kings' few scoring chances in the third came at 16:27. Osgood made a kick save of Nelson Emerson's shot, then smothered Emerson's rebound attempt while falling on his back to force the whistle.

http://library.northernlight.com/EA20000420270000060.html?cb=0&dx=2006&sc=0#doc

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), April 20, 2000


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