Leafs Drop Sens

Ottawa
Senators

Toronto won the best-of-seven series 4-2 and will face the New Jersey Devils in the second round.

"We played real gritty," Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph said. "We played tough along the boards."

Ottawa took a 2-0 lead on goals by Joe Juneau and Igor Kravchuk before Thomas, Mats Sundin, Sergei Berezin and Wendel Clark scored to give Toronto the victory.

"When we were down two goals, we hung in there," Sundin said. "I have no doubt in myself or any of my teammates. To our credit, our biggest asset is this bunch of guys who don't want to lose."

Ottawa scored only ten goals in six games and their top line of Radek Bonk, Marian Hossa and Magnus Arvedsson failed to score even once in the series.

"If we want to win a series like this, we all have to bury our chances," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "They did their best, they just came up short."

"Inexperience was a factor," Senators coach Jacques Martin said. "Our lack of production hurt us. We learned some lessons. We have to re-evaluate and keep progressing. This organization has a good history of that."