Alexander Mogilny scored twice and Curtis Joseph stopped 31 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in the decisive seventh game of their bruising Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
"We never quit," Mogilny said. "Everybody stepped up in different games and in different times. Cujo was huge for us throughout the series."
CuJo's saves, especially during the last five minutes of Game 7, proved to be the difference as the Leafs win the series 4-3.
Toronto won all four home games despite missing captain Mats Sundin (broken left wrist) for most of the series.
"I can honestly say I've never been prouder," Toronto's Tie Domi said. "We've been through a lot of adversity and we didn't make any excuses. Everybody wrote us off when we lost our leader."
"We didn't play very well on the road," Joseph said. "They played exceptionally well at home. It was a battle. Thank goodness we had home-ice advantage."
The Maple Leafs now meet provincial rival Ottawa, which eliminated Philadelphia in five games. The series begins in Toronto Thursday night.
Alexei Yashin and Kip Miller scored for the Islanders, who were playing without injured captain Michael Peca and
defenseman Kenny Jonsson. Both were lost on controversial hits earlier in the series.
New York's Dave Scatchard said it was the dirtiest series he's been a part of.
"Intensity brings that out, I guess. It's unfortunate, but it was pretty intense hockey, that's for sure," Scatchard said.
