Sens Dominate Leafs

2004 Playoffs

"We said that we wanted to win one game here and we did," Hossa said. "It's huge."

Bryan Smolinski and Wade Redden also scored for the Senators, who outshot the Maple Leafs 30-17.

"They were just better than us," Toronto captain Mats Sundin said. "We took some penalties, we were undisciplined at times."

Flyers Beat Devils
Robert Esche made 37 saves in his first playoff start and the Philadelphia Flyers beat defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils 3-2 in first-round series opener.

"He showed people he can play goal in the playoffs," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He's a really competitive guy who wants the ball. We're going to ride it out with him."

Simon Gagne, Jeremy Roenick and Keith Primeau scored for the Flyers and Patrik Elias and Jan Hrdina tallied for the Devils.

"The Flyers played the same way Hitch had them playing all year, not letting anyone getting caught up ice," Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer said. "There's not a lot of odd-man rushes."

Khabibulin Shuts Out Isles

Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin stopped all 30 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning won the series opener over the New York Islanders 3-0.

"We've got to be honest with ourselves. This wasn't our best game. Khabby was the difference," Martin St. Louis said. "We can definitely improve. Hopefully we're on top of our game on Saturday. We don't want to put that pressure on Khabby every night."

Fredrik Modin scored twice and Andre Roy added a goal for the Lightning, who were outshot 30-18 by the Islanders.

Sharks Win In OT
Rookie Niko Dimitrakos scored 9:16 into overtime to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. "I couldn't have dreamed this up any better," Dimitrakos said. "This is definitely the biggest thing I've ever done in hockey. To score a goal in overtime is something that I dreamed about, playing on the street."

Evgeni Nabokov stopped all 26 shots to earn the second playoff shutout of his career.