Originally published Monday, May 5, 2008 at 12:00 AM

NHL Playoffs | Penguins reach East final series

Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the game 7:10 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied after giving up a two-goal lead to...

By The Associated Press

NHL scoreboard

PITTSBURGH — Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the game 7:10 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied after giving up a two-goal lead to beat the New York Rangers 3-2 Sunday and advance to the Eastern Conference final series for the first time in seven years.

Sidney Crosby began a rush with a pass to Pascal Dupuis, who attempted to give it back to Crosby. The puck trickled away but ended up on Hossa's stick, and he beat Henrik Lundqvist from the slot for his fifth goal of the playoffs, ending New York's season. The Penguins won the best-of-seven series 4-1.

The Penguins, the Eastern Conference's worst team two years ago, will meet the cross-state Philadelphia Flyers, the conference's worst team last season, in the first all-Pennsylvania conference final. The teams haven't met in the postseason since the Flyers' six-game victory in a 2000 second-round series best remembered for Philadelphia's five-overtime victory in Game 4, which occurred eight years to the day Sunday.

The Rangers, down 2-0 but desperate to swing the series back to New York for what would have been a Game 6, got back into the game by scoring twice in less than 90 seconds early in the third period.

Lauri Korpikoski, a 2004 first-round draft pick playing in his first league game on a hunch by coach Tom Renney, scored 2:03 into the period with the second New York shot in nearly 17 minutes.

Korpikoski's wrist shot from the right circle might have deflected off Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney, who chose not to come out to challenge Korpikoski's second career shot.

Given life in a game — and a series — that was beginning to look lost, the Rangers came back to tie the score 1:22 later as Nigel Dawes scored on a backhander while cutting across the slot off Scott Gomez's setup.

Note

• Rangers forward Sean Avery, 28, was released from a hospital, five days after suffering a season-ending spleen injury in Game 3 against Pittsburgh.

The Rangers were 33-14-10 with Avery during the regular season and 9-13-3 when he was out because of injuries.

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