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BOX SCORE
OTTAWA (AP) – The Ottawa Senators played shorthanded Saturday
night, but it was their power play that sent the Toronto Maple
Leafs limping into the playoffs.
The Senators, playing with just 15 skaters because of injuries
to nine regulars, struck for three first-period power-play goals en
route to a 5-3 win over the Leafs in a possible Eastern Conference
first-round playoff preview.
|  | | Patrick Lalime makes one of his 35 saves on Toronto's Steve Thomas during Ottawa's 5-3 win. |
Defenseman Wade Redden had two goals and an assist, and
goaltender Patrick Lalime stopped 35 shots to give Ottawa
(48-21-9-4) its second win in as many nights in the final
regular-season game for both teams, played before a fifth
consecutive sellout crowd of 18,500 at the Corel Centre.
"We got behind early," said Leafs coach Pat Quinn, who now has
to await the outcome of Sunday's Carolina-Pittsburgh matchup to see
whether or not his team will face the Senators or the New Jersey
Devils in the first round.
"It's certainly not the kind of game I thought (the Senators
would) get out of us."
With the Devils' 2-0 win over Montreal on Saturday, they
finished first overall in the conference and the Senators second. A
Carolina win would drop the Leafs from the seventh spot into eighth
and a date with New Jersey.
Alexei Yashin had a goal and an assist to reach the 40-goal mark
for the second time in his career. Andreas Dackell and Jamie Rivers
also scored for the Senators, who swept the season series with the
Leafs 5-0 and improved to 9-1-1 in the last 11 meetings between the
teams.
Shawn McEachern added two assists.
"The guys had a gusty effort to play hard like that being
shorthanded ...," said Redden, who opened the scoring and added
his second late in the game for insurance. "It was a big game.
Patty was there for us again, stopping a lot of shots."
Sergei Berezin had two goals and an assist for Toronto
(37-29-11-5), which had its two-game win string snapped.
Yanic Perreault added a goal and two assists and Nikolai Antropov
had three assists, while Curtis Joseph finished with 29 saves in
goal.
"Tonight, we created some scoring chances, but unfortunately we
came up short," said Perreault.
The Senators were forced to dress just 15 skaters after three
call-ups from Grand Rapids of the IHL couldn't arrive in time
because of flight delays.
That didn't matter as they took a 2-0 lead on goals by Redden
and Dackell 58 seconds apart after Shayne Corson took a
double-minor for high-sticking and a charging call with the
Senators already on a power play.
"They started really good and our problem was we took some
penalties," said Joseph. "One (goal) was a great play and one was
a lucky bounce."
Toronto tied the game with a pair of power-play goals of their
own. Perreault banged in a rebound at 10:32 and Berezin converted a
goal-mouth pass at 14:42.
But Rivers and Yashin scored late in the period to restore the
two-goal lead.
"We played shorthanded for a while in the first, we battled
back, but we still found a way to give them the lead back," said
Leafs captain Mats Sundin.
Ottawa finished 3-for-8 on the power play; Toronto went 2-for-5.
"I think we showed how desperate we were," said Lalime. "We
battled pretty hard."
Game notes
Toronto defenseman Danny Markov played in his 200th NHL
game.
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NHL Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
Ottawa Clubhouse
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Detroit 4
Colorado 3
Florida 3
NY Rangers 0
Philadelphia 4
Pittsburgh 3
Dallas 5
San Jose 4
Boston 4
NY Islanders 2
New Jersey 2
Montreal 0
Ottawa 5
Toronto 3
St. Louis 1
Nashville 0
Los Angeles 3
Calgary 2
Edmonton 4
Vancouver 2
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