Skip to content
Flyers
Link copied to clipboard

Ottawa blanks Devils to take 2-1 series lead

Ray Emery held off New Jersey until his Ottawa teammates could find a way to score on Martin Brodeur. Emery stopped 25 shots for his second playoff shutout and Tom Preissing scored 4:46 into the third period, leading Ottawa to a 2-0 win over the visiting Devils in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference playoff series last night.

Ray Emery held off New Jersey until his Ottawa teammates could find a way to score on Martin Brodeur.

Emery stopped 25 shots for his second playoff shutout and Tom Preissing scored 4:46 into the third period, leading Ottawa to a 2-0 win over the visiting Devils in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference playoff series last night.

Emery, who clinched the Senators' first-round win with a shutout over Pittsburgh, outdueled Brodeur as Ottawa took a 2-1 lead in the second-round series.

"It's definitely great to play against a legend of the game like that, and it's a great feeling to win," Emery said.

Preissing beat Brodeur with a high shot from a tight angle in front of the right boards for the game's first goal.

"At some point something's going to have to go in. It just happened to be on my shot," Preissing said. "If I had five more shots like that, probably none of them would go in."

Jason Spezza scored into an empty net with 56 seconds to go.

Brodeur, who stopped 43 shots for his 94th playoff win Sunday, made 32 saves. He said he was disappointed that the referees hadn't seen Senators center Mike Fisher make contact with him on Preissing's goal.

"I got touched," Brodeur said. "It's unfortunate he didn't make the call on it. He probably didn't think it was enough for him to call, but it definitely took my concentration away."

Fisher acknowledged he made contact with Brodeur after looking at a replay.

"I got a piece of Brodeur and I tripped him up a little bit and Preissing got the shot away," Fisher said. "It was a great shot. I didn't intentionally try to trip him."

Devils coach Lou Lamoriello didn't care about Fisher's intent.

"I don't think it matters whether it's intentional or not intentional, he made contact with the goalie," Lamoriello said.

In another game:

* At San Jose, Jonathan Chee-choo scored a power-play goal with 6:21 to play, and the Sharks came from behind for a 2-1 victory over Detroit in Game 3 of their second-round, Western Conference series.

Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves in another standout effort for the Sharks, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Detroit went ahead on Nicklas Lidstrom's first-period goal. Ryan Clowe tied it for San Jose in the second period. *