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Toronto 3, Ottawa 0

Posted: Wednesday May 15, 2002 01:13 AM

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TORONTO (Ticker) -- When the Toronto Maple Leafs dropped Game Five to fall behind in the best-of-seven series, no one received more criticism for failing to score than Alexander Mogilny. Since then, no one has scored bigger goals.

Mogilny scored twice and Curtis Joseph turned away 19 shots as the Maple Leafs blanked the Ottawa Senators, 3-0, to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1999.

While Ottawa's Todd White was serving an interference penalty midway through the second period, Mogilny attempted to connect with defenseman Bryan McCabe, who was cutting to the net from the left point, on a centering pass from the right corner.

Before the puck could reach McCabe, it hit Ottawa defenseman Sami Salo's left skate and caromed past goaltender Patrick Lalime at 11:49 to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead.

"Almo tries to throw the puck out in front, it hits a skate and goes in," Toronto center Alyn Mccauley said. "If that happens at our end, maybe we're packing our bags."

"You can't do anything about it," Salo said. "It goes in, you can't do anything about that."

Mogilny was held without a goal in the first five games of the series after netting four in the conference quarterfinals against the New York Islanders, including two in the seventh and deciding game. He scored the game-winner in Game Six to even the series and struck again in the third period.

With a delayed penalty waiting to be called on White, defenseman Tomas Kaberle carried the puck down the right wing and into the Senators' zone. Mogilny outraced Shawn McEachern down the left side, received a cross-ice pass from Kaberle and roofed it over sprawled goaltender Patrick Lalime for a 2-0 Toronto advantage.

"It's not like we had an unbelievable game out there," Mogilny said. "It was just a couple lucky bounces here and there went in, fortunately."

Mogilny has scored five goals in six career Game Sevens.

"It's always nice to score a goal," Mogilny said. "Especially in an important game like tonight."

"You look at Alex, he had so many opportunities the whole series and he wasn't rewarded," Toronto left wing Gary Roberts said. "He's a skilled guy, he has lots of speed, lots of ability. You know if he gets his chances, he's going to bury a couple. He's a star player who really came through for us tonight. Him and Curtis, both guys gave us an opportunity to win the hockey game."

Joseph stopped eight shots in the third period, including five in the first 2:31 of the session, to earn his 14th career postseason shutout and second in eight Game Sevens. He tied Jacques Plante for third on the all-time playoff shutout list and trails Clint Benedict by one for second place.

"It was a real team shutout," Joseph said. "We sacrificed the body in a lot of areas."

After needing to make just one save in the second period, Joseph withstood an early barrage. With Travis Green in the penalty box for hooking, Ottawa generated their best scoring chance when Salo fired a slapper from the right point that Joseph stopped. The rebound slid between McEachern's legs and came directly to White, who backhanded the puck wide.

McCabe, who played just 23:24 after averaging just over 30 minutes a game, added an insurance tally with 5:56 remaining to seal the victory for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 11-8 in Game Sevens and 6-1 on home ice. Their only loss came against Los Angeles in the 1993 Western Conference finals.

Toronto continues its quest for its first Stanley Cup championship since 1967 on Thursday when it visits the Carolina Hurricanes, who earned their first appearance in the conference finals Monday when they eliminated Montreal in six games.

"(The Hurricanes) are on a roll," Joseph said. "They're a good team. They played us in here, I think that was the game I broke my hand, and they looked awful good. Give us a second to reflect on this."

"It's definitely going to be a different feeling going down there to play against my buddies," Roberts, the former Hurricane, said. "I'm going to have to sever all those relationships for a few weeks, I guess."

The Maple Leafs had the game's first scoring opportunity, but Lalime blocked Jonas Hoglund's attempt from low in the slot 40 seconds into the contest.

Six minutes later, Ottawa came back with a flurry of chances. Defenseman Wade Redden skated uncontested down the slot but his shot went over the net. After regaining possession, Juha Ylonen attempted to sneak the puck inside the right post from the doorstep, but Joseph stood his ground to gain a stoppage of play.

With 8:11 remaining in the first, Marian Hossa fired a shot from the right edge of the right circle that Joseph stopped with his left arm before falling in the rebound.

Hoglund missed a glorious chance with 3:36 to go. The rebound of a slap shot from Roberts came right to the 29-year old Swede, but he weakly put the puck back into Lalime, keeping the game scoreless.

Lalime turned away second-period shots from the right circle by Tie Domi with 4:25 gone by and Mogilny less than two minutes later with the crucial Ottawa penalty upcoming.

Roberts blasted a slapper from the top of the left circle that Lalime snagged with his glove with 4:38 remaining to keep it a one-goal game.

The Senators were held without a shot on goal in the second before Salo's slapper from the right point found its way to Joseph with 63 seconds left.

"We're playing not to lose instead of to win," Lalime said. "And that was the difference."

In 17 postseason contests against their Ontario rivals, the Senators are 0-7 when Toronto scores first. Ottawa is winless in 20 playoff games when they trail after two periods, including nine against the Maple Leafs.

The Senators blamed themselves for failing to advance.

"Failure to get it done," Redden said. "We had them on the ropes a few times. You can look back at a number of things throughout the series. We had them 2-1 (in the series) at home and Game Six at home. When we've got them by the throat, we've got to make sure to get them down."

"We just didn't have that killer instinct," Salo said. "When there was a chance to put the knife in a little deeper, you have to do it. Like when we were leading 1-0 in games, 2-1, 3-2, that's when you need to have that killer instinct. Every time we came out, we didn't play our best game."

Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson looked back at the five-minute major penalty against teammate Ricard Persson in Game Six as the turning point of the series. The Senators defenseman boarded Toronto right wing Domi, and Toronto went on to score twice and erase a two-goal deficit.

"We gave ourselves a great chance in Game Six to finish things off," Alfredsson said. "We had a 2-0 lead and if Domi had better balance, we'd be facing Carolina right now."