Senators Send Lightning Home

Martin Havlat helped Ottawa finish off defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay in five games Saturday night at home, scoring a power-play goal in the second period and getting an assist in the Senators’ 3-2 victory over the Lightning.

Peter Schaefer and Andej Meszaros scored first-period goals and Ray Emery made 26 saves for Ottawa, which won the series 4-1 to advance past the first round for the fourth time in nine straight playoff appearances since 1996-97.

Evgeny Artyukhin and Brad Richards scored in the second for the Lightning, who twice drew within one in the period but were unable to tie it.

Dany Heatley had two assists and Jason Spezza had one to give the Senators three 10-point scorers in the series. Emery made his fifth straight start of the series for Ottawa, the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.

The Senators, who won for the fifth time in 13 playoff series, will face the lowest-seeded team remaining among Montreal (seventh), Philadelphia (fifth) and Buffalo (fourth) once the first round is completed.

New Jersey 4, New York Rangers 2 -- Patrik Elias scored two goals and assisted on Scott Gomez’s power-play goal early in the second period as the Devils completed a four-game sweep in the first-round series at New York.

Brian Gionta secured the victory 4:30 into the third period with the Devils’ third short-handed goal of the series.

New Jersey stretched its winning streak to 15 games, tying the league mark for the longest run that spanned the regular season and playoffs.

Edmonton 3, Detroit 2 -- Dwayne Roloson made 30 saves, the Oilers scored three goals in the second period and held off the Red Wings to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round series at Detroit.

Fernando Pisani, Ryan Smyth and Shawn Horcoff scored for Edmonton with Chris Pronger assisting on each goal.