Senators Ground Flyers

2003 Playoffs

"We never had any doubts that we could do it," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "We haven't been afraid to talk about going all the way. We've been a little bit more cocky than we have before, but in a good way."

Peter Schaefer opened scoring for the Senators less than three minutes in. With the Senators shorthanded, Mike Fisher made it 2-0 at the seven-minute mark, and things started to look bleak for the sell-out home crowd.

"There's no finger-pointing in this dressing room," Flyers forward Mark Recchi said. "We all didn't get the job done, that's the bottom line."

Daniel Alfredsson, Bryan Smolinski and Martin Havlat also scored for the Senators, who will face the New Jersey Devils for the right to go to the Stanley Cup finals.

"You can't look too far ahead, we want to get to the finals," Alfredsson said. "We're probably going to have to play even better than we have so far."

"It's frustrating," Flyers right wing Tony Amonte said. "We're kicking ourselves in the behind right now. We didn't play our game and we never got into it. ... This was the best opportunity I had to make a serious run at the Stanley Cup. It's disappointing not to be able to go further."

Ducks Finish Off Stars
Sandis Ozolinsh scored with 1:06 remaining, lifting the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to a 4-3 victory over the top-seeded Dallas Stars and the first trip to the Western Conference finals in team history.

The plan was to find a way to win and get the job done," Ducks coach Mike Babcock said. "It doesn't matter what you do or how you do it. This is beyond our wildest dreams."

The Ducks won the series four games to two after sweeping the Detroit Red Wings in the first round. Anaheim will face the Vancouver-Minnesota series winner in the conference final.

"Surreal is an understatement," Steve Thomas said. "Beating Detroit was an accomplishment. Now, to beat the Stars, it is amazing."

Wild Rout Canucks
Cliff Ronning scored twice in a five-goal second period as the Minnesota Wild avoided elimination with a 7-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 5 of the series.

"We were looking for breaks in this series and I think we got all of them today," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "The puck was rolling for us and we were able to make plays and the puck was going."

Richard Park, Jason Marshall, Andrew Brunette and Wes Walz also scored for the Wild, who still trail 3-2 in the series.

"Tonight is a big win for us, but we've got a long road to go," Wild defenseman Willie Mitchell said. "We played pretty well against Colorado with our backs against the wall, and they were in a similar situation too, and they know anything can happen."

Game 6 is in Minnesota on Wednesday.