Second Period

TROY, N.Y. -- Five different Baltimore players scored in the second period as the Skipjacks took firm control in the middle session for an 8-5 American Hockey League victory over the Capital District Islanders last night.It was the next-to-last game of the regular season for both clubs. Baltimore (39-33-7) finishes tonight at Binghamton, the Skipjacks' first-round opponent for the Calder Cup playoffs. The first-year Isles (28-42-9), who failed to qualify for the playoffs, finish in Rochester tonight.

When the best game that almost every Ravens' player had ever been a part of was finally over, Joe Flacco threw his hands in the air, Justin Tucker emphatically pumped his fist and Ray Lewis dropped to his knees, reduced to tears. Tucker's 47-yard field goal 1 minute and 42 seconds into the second overtime ended a thrilling and exhausting divisional round playoff game and sent the Ravens into the AFC championship game for the second straight year. The 38-35 victory over the Denver Broncos earns the Ravens a date with the winner of Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Houston Texans.

DENVER -- On the day of groundbreaking for the MCI Arena in Washington, the Capitals didn't get much done in Colorado.Driving star goaltender Jim Carey out of the game early in the second period, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Capitals, 4-2, last night. A crowd of 15,589 watched at McNichols Sports Arena.The defeat ended Washington's three-game winning streak that included a 4-3 victory Tuesday night in Dallas."For the most part, we didn't play typical Capitals hockey," said forward Keith Jones, the star of the game last Friday when the Caps handled the Avalanche, 3-1, at home.

Maryland's field hockey team has never forgotten how North Carolina broke its heart by scoring the game-winning goal with 11.7 seconds left in last year's national championship game. The two teams met Sunday in this year's title game, and the Terrapins gained a measure of revenge. Megan Frazer helped break a few Tar Heels' hearts when she scored with 2:10 left in the second period of sudden-death overtime to give No. 1 Maryland a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over No. 2 North Carolina at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

PHILADELPHIA -- Beating the Phantoms in the Spectrum this season has been roughly the equivalent of giving golfer Tiger Woods three strokes a side and making money.So, Tiger, double or nothing tomorrow?The Bandits fell two goals behind after a period. Perhaps the Phantoms thought they were on their way to a sixth consecutive win over the Bandits.What a surprise they had waiting.Three goals in the second period got the Bandits on top andthey held their slim advantage over the final 24 minutes to win, 3-2.The Phantoms had won five in a row. Their home record was 23-3-2.

COLLEGE PARK - Recent weather problems have prompted Boys' Latin lacrosse coach Bob Shriver to jokingly call this the "spring of having to handle things." The Lakers had another unusual thing to handle yesterday - a 10 a.m. game start. Top-ranked Boys' Latin took awhile to awaken, struggling throughout the first quarter. But a three-minute illegal stick penalty against No. 5 St. Mary's helped the Lakers to a five-goal second period, and they rolled to a 9-7 victory over the Saints in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference opener for both teams.

Southern was hot in the first period, and host Annapolis appeared to be ripe for an upset in Anne Arundel County boys basketball last night. Then the fourth-ranked Panthers got hot and closed the half with a 20-5 run for a 33-32 lead on the way to a 72-57 victory. Laronja Owens and Josh Johnson led the way with 48 points between them, and Dave Gioffre made a personal-best five three-pointers for his 15 points. Southern had a 22-9 lead at the end of the first period, thanks to seven points each by Brandon Tyler and Chuck Warring.

Blues: G Grant Fuhr, who has started all 76 games this season, left Sunday's 8-1 loss to Detroit in the second period because of a leg strain.Pub Date: 4/02/96

A four-goal second period propelled the Baltimore Skipjacks to an 8-4 American Hockey League victory over the Springfield Indians at the Baltimore Arena last night.The triumph over the Northern Division leaders broke a three-game losing streak and moved the Skipjacks back into second place in the Southern Division, a point in front of idle Binghamton.Tim Bergland, Reggie Savage and Bob Joyce scored two goals each for Baltimore, and Savage had two assists. Joyce had an assist, and Jeff Greenlaw and Jiri Vykoukal also scored goals.

Valeri Zelepukhin's second power-play goal of the game, at 11 minutes, 55 seconds of the third period, gave the Utica Devils a 4-2 AHL victory over the Baltimore Skipjacks before 3,451 at the Baltimore Arena last night.The Devils, who will play the Skipjacks again tonight at the Arena, trailed, 2-1, midway through the second period, but rallied for the victory.Zelepukhin's game-winner came as he batted the puck toward the Baltimore goal while flat on the ice. The puck caromed off the skate of a Skipjacks defenseman and through goalie Olaf Kolzig's legs.

Villanova scored five straight goals late in the second period and then held on for a 10-9 victory over Towson to capture the Colonial Athletic Association tournament title at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Saturday night. The win gave the Wildcats (11-5) an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Division I playoffs. Seedings for the tournament will be determined Sunday night. Towson finishes its season at 7-10. The Tigers, who trailed by five goals at halftime, pulled within three several times in the second half and cut the lead to 10-9 on two straight goals, the last by sophomore attackman Tim Stratton with 43.3 seconds left.

Philadelphia - Despite not having its leading scorer for most of the game, the Baltimore Blast (6-1) bounced back from its only loss of the season with a convincing 18-6 victory over the Philadelphia KiXX (3-5) last night in front of an announced 6,759 at the Wachovia Spectrum. After scoring the Blast's first goal, Machel Millwood left in the first quarter with an ankle injury. Teammates Denison Cabral, Billy Nelson and Giuliano Celenza filled the void by scoring two goals each. Although the Blast took an early 6-2 lead on goals by Millwood, Nelson and Cabral, the loss of its leading scorer seemed to slow the team temporarily because it wouldn't score another goal until the end of third period.

Orlando, Fla. -- Going into last night's game against the expansion Orlando Sharks, Blast coach Danny Kelly made sure his team would not have a letdown after starting the season 2-0. "Detroit showed us last year that an expansion team is capable of making it to the finals. We were not going to take Orlando lightly," he said. His team clearly got the message, routing the Sharks, 17-6, in a Major Indoor Soccer League game. The Blast set the pace early with Jamaican native Machel Millwood giving Baltimore a 2-0 lead.

The big showdown fizzled in the second period last night when it ceased to be a game as Randallstown humbled host Douglass, 86-70, in the Class 2A North boys basketball regional final. No. 8 Randallstown, a two-time defending state champion (3A in 2005 and 2A last season), will make its ninth trip to the state tournament under 13th-year coach Kim Rivers. Senior Darrell Bryant had game highs of 24 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots. Kim English added 20 points. Junior point guard Tione Womack was all over the floor with eight points, four steals and eight assists.

Jason Blake scored two goals and Rick DiPietro displayed more confidence in making 33 saves, lifting the surging New York Islanders to a 4-1 home victory over the slumping Washington Capitals last night. Blake has goals in four of five games for the Islanders, 6-1-1 in their past eight. Washington, still smarting from a 7-1 home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, lost for the sixth straight time - including two overtime defeats. Richard Park and Trent Hunter also scored, and Alexei Yashin had two assists for the Islanders.

The Blast gave player-interim coach Danny Kelly a few gifts last night. First came the team's aggressive effort in a 6-2 victory over Philadelphia before 5,107 at 1st Mariner Arena. The Blast controlled play at both ends and never trailed while breaking a four-game losing streak. The second present came after the game when the team spent several minutes signing a ball to give to its new leader after his first victory as a coach. Kelly took over after the suspension of Tim Wittman last week, and the Blast lost in his first game Friday.

HERSHEY, Pa. -- The Hershey Bears sprinted to a 5-1 lead and then had to hang on to edge the Baltimore Skipjacks, 6-5, last night before 6,157 in the Hersheypark Arena.The loss dropped the Skipjacks' road record to 2-6-1 and their American Hockey League record to 10-9-1 and kept them from advancing in the Southern Division race. Baltimore completes its 10-game, 20-day trip tonight in Binghamton, N.Y., against the Rangers."That was a tough second period to watch," Baltimore coach Rob Laird said of a period in which the Bears outshot the Jacks, 21-14, outscored them, 3-2, and chased starting goal Ollie Kolzig.

Rookie defenseman Andrej Meszaros had three assists, Ray Emery made 30 saves, and the host Ottawa Senators scored five special-teams goals in a 7-1 victory over the Washington Capitals last night. Washington rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin scored his 38th goal with 5:07 remaining in the third to spoil Emery's shutout bid. Emery won for the second straight night since taking over for the injured Dominik Hasek. Leading 4-0 in Pittsburgh the night before, Ottawa held on to beat the Penguins in its first game after the Olympic break despite having its rookie goalie allow three third-period goals.

Luongo made a season-high 53 saves to help the Florida Panthers end a 13-game road losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Capitals at MCI Center last night. "Once they got on a roll, they were firing it from every angle possible," Luongo said. "Luckily, there weren't that many bad bounces." Nathan Horton, Jozef Stumpel and Rostislav Olesz scored for Florida, which won on the road for the first time since Oct. 25. Luongo made his biggest save with six minutes left, stopping rookie star Alexander Ovechkin on a breakaway.