The Battle of Quebec may have turned one one point -- the Montreal Canadiens can't beat the Quebec Nordiques in overtime.
When Peter Stastny scored at 2:22 of overtime Thursday night, Quebec defeated Montreal 3-2 to advance to the Stanley Cup semifinals. In taking the Adams Division championship series 4-3, the Nordiques won three times in overtime.
Quebec next meets the Philadelphia Flyers in the best-of-seven Wales Conference finals. The Nordiques have the home-ice advantage with Game 1 Sunday night at Le Colisee.
'Both sides had chances,' Montreal coach Jacques Lemaire said. 'We just didn't take advantage of ours.'
In five overtime playoff games over three years, Montreal has yet to defeat Quebec.
'Sometimes it seems as though there's no justice,' Stastny said. 'Seven games, and one mistake and one team must lose. It's too bad they both can't win, but I'm glad we came up winners.
After Montreal goalie Steve Penney stopped Pat Price's slapshot from the point and stunted Stastny on the initial rebound, Stastny lifted the second rebound over the sprawled goalie. The third period was scoreless after Montreal rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the middle period to tie it 2-2.
Quebec rookie Bruce Bell opened the scoring at 3:27 of the first period and Jean-Francois Sauve gave Quebec a 2-0 lead at 1:24 of the second period on a 50-foot slapshot.
Montreal scored at 7:23 of the second period when Pierre Mondou deflected Mats Naslund's wrist shot between the legs of goalie Mario Gosselin. Montreal struck 10 minutes later when Naslund got the rebound off a blueline wrist shot by Montreal's Larry Robinson.
In the Campbell Conference finals, the defending champion Edmonton Oilers have home-ice advantage starting Saturday against the Chicago Black Hawks. The Oilers have been idle since last Thursday when they completed a four-game sweep of Winnipeg in the Smythe Division finals. Chicago clinched the Norris Division Tuesday against Minnesota, taking the series 4-2.
The Oilers, rested and with great depth, are favored. But the Black Hawks have been stunning at times in the playoffs.
Edmonton has the more explosive offense. The teams, however, are well-matched on defense with Oiler Paul Coffey and Black Hawk Doug Wilson among the league's best. Chicago goalie Murray Bannerman has been streaky while Edmonton's Grant Fuhr been unbeatable.
