 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
GAME 1:
Coming off a slower season than they had in the past few years, Ottawa had the chance to start fresh in the playoffs this year. The team had not advanced past the first round the last two years when they met the Toronto Maple Leafs both times, with Toronto sweeping then first-seeded Ottawa in four games in 2001. Now Ottawa would get the opportunity to try against second-seeded Philadelphia. It seemed like a very even match in the first game, which saw the two teams move back and forth on the ice, without scoring a single goal. The game went to overtime scorless, and it would be another 7:47 before the game-winner finally got through to the Ottawa net. Ruslan Fedotenko got the puck past Patrick Lalime, who had made 24 saves until then. Roman Cechmanek made 35 saves for a shutout.
GAME 2:
With game one being so close, everyone was ready for another tight one in game two. But Ottawa would steal the show in Philadelphia tonight, turning the tables and then some on the Flyers. Patrick Lalime posted a shutout of his own in this 3-0 victory for Ottawa, their first playoff win away from home in 13 games. Captain Daniel Alfredsson scored the first goal at 9:32 of the second period, on a power-play for Ottawa. Mike Fisher later added a second goal, and then Jody Hull topped off the scoring at 15:57 of the third period to make the score 3-0. The two teams would move on to meet in Ottawa for the next two games at one game apiece.
GAME 3:
The upset continued as Patrick Lalime blanked the Flyers for the second game in a row, with another 3-0 score. Lalime made 26 saves, and Radek Bonk got the go-ahead goal on a Senator power-play. The game was chock full of close chances for both teams, as the goalies made some amazing saves. But the Flyers could not break through to tie the game, and so they went down by three at the end of the game with a pair of empty-netters from Daniel Alfredsson and Marian Hossa. The Sens took the game to go up 2-1 in the series.
GAME 4:
Patrick Lalime is the second goalie to make NHL history in as many nights. With another 3-0 victory and 28 saves, Lalime became the fifth goalie to have 3 consecutive playoff shutouts, after St. Louis netminder Brent Johnson completed the feat one night before. Lalime also became the second to have his first three career playoff wins all shutouts, the first being Johnson. Although the Sens won, it was not an easy victory.
All three goals of the game were scored by defencemen, and Ottawa was just 2/20 on the power-play all series. Wade Redden had the first goal to be scored in an opening period during the series 20 seconds before it ended. Then Sami Salo put Ottawa up 2-0 with his backhander at 6:06 in the second. And 2:02 later, Marian Hossa topped off the scoring with his second of the series. During the third period, the Flyers had 77 seconds of 5-on-3 advantage, but they failed to capitalize, surrendering the game at 3-0 to Ottawa for the third straight
GAME 5:
Lalime's historical 183:53 shutout streak came to an end at 3:53 of the first period, as the Flyers finally scored a goal, their second in the series. It was Dan McGillis who gave a sigh of relief to Philadelphia, who had not scored a playoff goal in regulation time for 320:36. And they would not score again.
Daniel Alfredsson tied it up at 15:16 of the first period, sending the game into overtime as the teams failed to score for the next 2 periods. It was Martin Havlat who scored the series winner for Ottawa at 7:33 of overtime on a power play, sending the team past the first round for the second time in their short history, the first time since 1998. Both Patrick Lalime and Boston's Brian Boucher made 25 saves, but it was Lalime who stole the series. He blocked a total of 135 shots, letting only 2 get by him through to whole series, and finished with an amazing .985 save percentage and a 0.37 goals against average. So with the Senators unexpectedly knocking off the second-seeded Flyers in just 5 games, they move on to battle rival Toronto in the Conference Semifinals.
|
|
|
