**Maple Leafs win third straight Battle of Ontario**
MAPLE LEAFS 3, Senators 0
TORONTO (CP) – Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina.
The message was flashed on the video screen above centre ice, and Maple Leafs fans shouted their approval of Toronto’s advancement to the NHL’s Eastern Conference final beginning Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“We’re a very resilient bunch that seem to be made with some very hard rubber,” said centre Alyn McCauley. “Things seem to bounce off of us.” The Ottawa Senators are still bouncing. Alexander Mogilny’s two goals, one by Bryan McCabe, Curtis Joseph’s goaltending and heroic defensive shot-blocking earned the Leafs a 3-0 victory over Ottawa that ended the second-round series Tuesday night.
“It’s been a long and hard battle to get to this point,” McCauley said after his team’s second Game 7 win of the spring. "We’ve needed all our resources to step up and play big, and everyone has. “It seems the longer a series goes on, the stronger we get. I don’t know if that’s the team’s character or the conditioning or what that is, but it seems that way. Maybe we’re just the marathon runners and not the sprinters.”
The Leafs’ experience in crucial contests was too much for the Senators, who were eliminated by Toronto for the third consecutive year. “Maybe we ran out of gas,” said Ottawa goaltender Patrick Lalime. “Maybe we played not to lose instead of trying to be more aggressive.”
There were a lot of maybes in the Ottawa room. With all the injuries that have afflicted the Leafs, the Senators had superior talent on paper. But hockey is not played on paper. The Leafs’ desire to win was stronger. Their come-from-behind 4-3 victory in Game 6 in Ottawa fed their confidence, while the Senators never seemed to recover from blowing a two-goal lead at home when they could have finished out the series. They’ll have all summer to think about it.
For the Leafs, it’s on to Raleigh, N.C. “There’s a lot of work left to be done, but you know you have a group of guys who have the ability and the opportunity here to do something very special,” said forward Gary Roberts. Joseph, who has played progressively better each week, posted his second shutout of the playoffs, the 14th of his career, which tied Jacques Plante for third place on the all-time list.
“The guys played extremely well in front of me tonight,” Joseph told CBC. “It was a lot of grit, a lot of determination by all the guys. We couldn’t be happier.” Ottawa had the majority of the good scoring chances in a scoreless first period but Joseph refused to let a puck past him.
The tide turned in the Leafs’ favour in the second period. The Senators killed a penalty to Todd White for slashing Shayne Corson but could not survive an interference penalty against White for hauling down Corson. Mogilny had the puck in the bottom of the circle to the left of Lalime and saw Travis Green skating towards the crease. His attempted pass deflected off Sami Salo’s skate and into the net for a power-play goal at 11:49.
“I tried to go across to Greenie and the defenceman turned around and it hit his skate – it was a lucky one,” said Mogilny. “They got the bounces and we didn’t,” lamented Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson.
The patient-to-a-fault Senators were waiting to pounce on Toronto mistakes but there were none. Ottawa’s offence shrivelled up. The Senators managed only one shot on Joseph in the second period, and it was in the last minute. Three consecutive penalties against Ottawa meant Toronto would likely get the next one, and that’s what happened 24 seconds into the third period when Green hooked down Alfredsson.
The Senators had the puck in Toronto’s end for most of the power play but could not score as Leaf after Leaf sacrificed his body to block pucks. McCabe went down to block a bullet. Corson took a slapshot just above a knee and was helped to the dressing room. He returned five minutes later, and was diving to block more shots. “I’m not feeling too much right now,” Corson said of his sore left leg. “I’m just feeling happy and proud of these guys in this room.”
White, for the third time in the game, intervened to the detriment of his own team. He barged into Joseph for a goaltender interference penalty. The Leafs dashed towards Lalime as Joseph scooted to the bench, and Tomas Kaberle sent a beauty of a cross-ice pass to Mogilny, who sent the puck into the top of the net. Mogilny’s goal, 5:14 into the third, was his seventh of the playoffs. “Kabbie made a nice play,” said Mogilny. “It was a 3-on-2 and he made a nice pass.” He declined praise of his effort, choosing to laud his teammates.
“He’s a star player who really came through for us – him and Curtis,” said Roberts. The Senators needed a break, and they got it when McCabe cut Benoit Brunet with a high stick, giving the Senators a four-minute manpower advantage. But that lasted just one minute before Martin Havlat cross-checked Cory Cross from behind at the top of the Leafs’ crease.
When Havlat jumped out of the penalty box, the Senators’ power play again pressed. This time it was Green diving to block a slapshot. “You see Green and Corson and Alyn battling in a short-handed situation, sacrificing their bodies, it was unbelievable,” said Mogilny. "Those little things make a big difference in the end.
“Everybody in this locker-room did the job. There is no one guy to put on a pedestal. Everybody is part of this success.” McCabe applied the finishing touch by beating Lalime through the legs with a slap shot from the circle to Lalime’s right with 6:56 left.
There was no quit in the Leafs. “Not only are the guys out with injuries but there are guys in the lineup that are injured as well,” said McCauley. "Guys just continue to battle no matter the circumstance.
“That’s just the character of the team: do what has to be done and somebody will score the goal to win it for us.” The Leafs wanted it more than the Senators. “I know how bad everyone wanted it in here,” said Green. "I said it about four games ago: we’re willing to go the distance.
“Who knows what we can do in here? We’ve got a lot of heart, that’s for sure.” Tired? “We’ve got a lot left,” insisted Corson. “We’re looking forward to going down to Carolina.” Added McCauley: “We’ve got to start thinking about them very quickly. We fought hard through this series and, hopefully, everyone can regroup and get back on track and start thinking about what we need to do to win the next series.”