Another reminder of the missing intensity was shown throughout the morning on TV replays of Martin Havlat, McEachern and Alfredsson giving the puck away instead of digging down when they either had the puck or it could have been theirs. Havlat, meanwhile, was crucified for a cross-checking penalty that cut into a four-minute power play with the score 2-0.

"He's young," Benoit Brunet said afterwards. "He'll learn."

Havlat's penalty came after it appeared that referee Bill McCreary had warned him to stop cross-checking (Cory) Cross. Either that, or McCreary was telling him to continue, and save the Senators the embarrassment of another unproductive power play.

Riding the zebras

Leafs' mastery of getting the call the difference: Sens


By DON BRENNAN -- Ottawa Sun

TORONTO -- Officiating figured prominently in the Battle of Ontario, as players questioned the validity of both real and imagined penalties until the bitter end.

"The Leafs know what to do, they play the game well," said Senators centre Todd White, who was in the box serving a hooking penalty on Shayne Corson when the Leafs scored the winning goal last night.

"They know when to fall down."

White said he didn't hook Corson on the play.

"The refs are trying to let as much go as they can. I didn't think I need to hook him just then, and I didn't. He kind of just hung on and went for a ride. It's frustrating."

Trailing by two in the third, the Senators were given a great chance to get back in it when Benoit Brunet was cut by Bryan McCabe's stick. But one minute into the four-minute power play, Martin Havlat was penalized for cross-checking Cory Cross in front of the Toronto net.

"I don't know, there were lots of things like that in the series," said Havlat, who connected with Cross a couple of times before he was whistled for it. "But he called this one.

'HE JUST FELL DOWN'

"I was just trying to be in front of the net. He just fell down and the ref called it. But there were so many like that in the series and he didn't call them."

Even after the final buzzer last night, Ricard Persson's iffy five-minute major for hitting Tie Domi in Game 6 was a hot topic.

"I thought overall, we were the better team," said Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson.

"In Game 6, we had them where we wanted. We played outstanding at the start, and then we get a terrible break with the call on Domi that was questionable if it was a penalty at all.

"But he cut himself, we get a penalty, and they turn the game around."

The Senators never did recover from that last loss on home ice.

"For me, we didn't lose the series (last night)," Brunet said after Ottawa was officially eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. "I thought we lost it in the sixth game, at home. We couldn't finish them off."

Havlat agreed.

"The most important game was Game 6," he said. "They didn't win the game, we lost it."

This story's getting old
Sens still can't get it right against Leafs in playoffs

By DON BRENNAN -- Ottawa Sun

TORONTO -- This is the place Senators dreams go to die.

For two years in a row now, they have had their season ended at the Air Canada Centre. For two years in a row, they have taken their last gasp at the new building in downtown Toronto known as The Hangar.

The scene was very different this time around. They had this series, then they lost it. They failed to gain momentum from Game 1's thorough, 5-0 victory. They failed to take inspiration from Daniel Alfredsson's memorable winner in Game And last night, they just failed.

The Senators should have looked at the middle period last night positively. At least they got a shot on net, albeit not until there were just 62 seconds left.

Never mind that credit wasn't given until midway through Ron MacLean's interview with Gary Bettman on CBC. Sami Salo's slap from the point did reach Curtis Joseph, everybody could see that.

They took three straight penalties and were outshot 9-1 in the second period, yet they only trailed 1-0. On a goal they put into their own net, at that.

But Alexander Mogilny's bankshot off Salo's skate stood as the winner because the Senators could muster nothing at Curtis Joseph, who doesn't deserve as much of the credit as he will get for this one.

Ottawa's last chance to get back in this one came with about 13 minutes left when -- trailing now by two -- Benoit Brunet dipped into Tie Domi's bag of tricks and came out with a fake blood packet to give the Senators a four-minute power play.

But it was cut in half when Martin Havlat took a very stupid penalty cross-checking Cory Cross in the back, and the Senators were done.

They won a playoff round this year, and they deserve credit for the way they did it -- by completely manhandling the big bad Philadelphia Flyers.

But they also had a chance to go further, all the way to the Stanley Cup final, and they couldn't do it.

The Senators have a young, talented team. They should have a bright future.

But next time, it might be a good idea if they do what they can to avoid a Battle of Ontario IV.

STARTS AND STOPS: If there was any doubt about the worth of Zdeno Chara and Mike Fisher, there shouldn't be now. The Senators were never the same club after losing their best defenceman and centre to knee injuries in Game 5 ... You knew the Senators were thin at centre when the season began. But you would have never guessed a guy named Juha Ylonen would be lined up between Shawn McEachern and Marian Hossa in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals .... From about the third to sixth minutes of the second period, the Senators were absolutely dominated (That last line was written in the sixth minute. The correction should read, from the third to the 19th minute of the second period the Senators were absolutely dominated. And they didn't do anything in the first three minutes) ... On top of all their other injuries, the Leafs lost Shayne Corson three minutes into the third, when he was carried to the dressing room after blocking a shot ... Who knows what the Senators will do with McEachern -- who produced just 15 goals in the regular season then couldn't score in 12 playoff games -- and still has a year on his contract? .... Noted goon Todd White took back-to-back penalties in the second period, but he would not have been called on the first one (for slashing Corson) had he just stayed still and let the Leafs veteran cross check him between the eyes like he tried to. A third was going to be called on White (for goalie interference) had Alexander Mogilny not scored his second goal of the game before a Senator touched the puck ... Daniel Alfredsson has gained superstar status in Toronto. He was booed every time he touched the puck last night ... Sad but true, in today's NHL playoffs you can commit any number of fouls that don't get called, but never ever hold another man's stick ... Patrick Lalime is now 0-for-1 in Game 7s. But they do take some getting used to. In Cujo's first Game 7 (April 4, 1990), he was yanked after 14 shots and replaced by Vincent Riendeau as his St. Louis Blues wound up losing 8-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks. In his second (May 15, 1993), he was beaten 6-0 by the Leafs. And in his third, he was on the losing side of a 5-3 decision to Vancouver. In total, he has won four of eight Game 7 starts ... The ACC scoreboard showed a short clip entitled "Why We Love Alyn McCauley" in the first. Funny, they didn't even know his name three weeks ago.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM...: You haven't heard homerism until you've heard Joe Bowen. The Leafs radio play-by-play voice could barely catch his breath while calling the last few seconds of Game 6. "I've never been prouder in my life," he gushed, of the Leafs' ability to hold off the Senators ... The best lines of the series came from Mogilny. "We had to go back to Toronto, so we thought we'd take them with us," he said about the Leafs' win in Game 6. "The monkey went back to the zoo, I guess," he said about scoring the game winner, his first goal of the series. He had others, too, which makes you wonder: Who would have ever thought the most quotable player in a Senators-Leafs series would be a Russian? ... A pair of tickets in the second-best set of seats would have cost you $1,600 from a scalper last night ... Leafs fans started chanting Gary Roberts' name during a stop in play with five minutes to go in the second. He responded on command with a big shift, first decking Sheriff Shane Hnidy and second, having a slap shot targeted for the top corner snared by Lalime.

Fitting end for heartless Senators

By BILL LANKHOF -- Toronto Sun

Good morning, Alex Mogilny. Way to drive a stake through the hearts of the Senators.

I mean, it takes real talent to hit a target that small.

PLAYING IN TRAFFIC: Strolled over to the Air Canada Centre last night. Almost got run over by the Leafs bandwagon.

Sign on the glass at the ACC: No Soliciting Please. Twenty paces away scalpers patrol the sidewalks like an army of ants at a picnic -- and they're just about as polite, too.

One of them accosts a couple trying to sell their own seats and warns them to get their own patch. Cowed like an Ottawa Senator, they hustle away.

In Melville, working the streets is like working the corners. Being nasty is a good thing.

Nearby, two cops watch. They make about as many calls as a referee at a Darcy Tucker Mugging Party. Go figure.

Despite Mel (Potluck) Lastman's decree that every citizen should wear blue & white yesterday, several heathens are spotted near the ACC in contraband colours. Mel knows who you are, and where you live. Wanna take one guess where he's thinking of opening the city's new landfill site? ...

You have been warned. Don't let it happen again.

Lots of pre-game noise. Scoreboard shows previous playoff and season highlights and there are even a few of those Maple Leafs healthy enough to actually play last night.

HAUTE COUTURE: Or, dressing down for the occasion. You know when they say that you shouldn't trust anyone over 20? That counts for anyone using those face paints, too. And those synthetic blue wigs. For those of us who can remember when Keon was the name of a hockey player and not the Leafs' goal judge, it is okay to wear this stuff -- but only if you don't mind looking like some demented apple dumpling doll.

GAME ON: Jonas Hoglund has two really good chances in the first period. The Maplepunks kill off a penalty. They've got jump. But no goal.

The Sens look, well, interested, which is an upgrade from Game 6 when they could've been compared to the Keystone Kops, except it would've been an insult. To the Kops. Nice of them to show up. They're like their Ottawa political bedfellows. You know, nobody's ever sure when they're going to show up for work. Or if ...

Curtis Joseph stops Marian Hossa on the two-on-one. No worries. Leafs are just testing to see if the Sens are awake.

MAGIC TIME: Or the second period. Gary Roberts is everywhere. Or maybe it just looks that way. The Senators can't handle those pesky St. John's ... I mean, Toronto Maple Leafs as they crash the net. Todd White takes a penalty. Radek Bonk sets up Roberts with a blind pass in front of his own net. Save Patrick Lalime -- at least Jacques Martin has one guy who's paying attention.

White gets called for interference. Wonder if Pat Quinn likes the officiating so far.

Wait. Somebody take that knife out of Lalime's back. From the "With Friends Like This Dept.," Mogilny just banks the shot in off Sami Salo's skate.

Don't look now, but I think those are the Senators in that coffin.

THIRD & GOAL: Third period and Joseph stops about a dozen shots. Or maybe it just seems that way. They cart off Shayne Corson after he gets a boo-boo. Doesn't matter. Been there, survived that.

Mogilny scores again. Big whoop on Yonge St. tonight!

The Sens get comeback ideas when Bryan McCabe gets a four-minute highsticking penalty? Forget it! Martin Havlat has a brain cramp and cross-checks Cory Cross. I think somebody just put a nail in that coffin.

IT DOES NOT COMPUTE: On stats alone, the Senators have been the better team in this Eastern Conference semi-final. Through six games, they outscored them 18-13. They outshot them 187-168. They outhit them 222-198. The puck has been in Toronto's end of the ice for 163 minutes and 41 seconds. It has been in the Senators end 146:28.

They've got all summer to figure out why it didn't work out. Again. Somebody get Martin a kleenex.

WEAK SISTERS? So, what does it mean when they still can't beat a Leafs team that's so wounded their own mothers wouldn't recognize them?

Maybe we need to cancel the Eastern Conference in absentia of any real competition. I mean, right now the competition is so formidable the Erie Otters think they've got a shot.

A bad Radek Bonk pass into Martin Havlat's skates was the turnover that led to Alex Mogilny's goal in the third. "I couldn't catch the pass like I should have," said Havlat. "It was a tough play and we got a bad bounce."

Arvie, Havlat: Magical match


By DON BRENNAN -- Ottawa Sun

They sit next to each other in the Senators' dressing room, but it's difficult to imagine they have much to talk about -- a 30-year Swede with an infant son and a 21-year old single Czech with no real obligations.

To a certain extent they carry their lifestyles with them onto the ice as the defensively responsible and offensively risk-taking wingers on the team's third line.

But come game time they've communicated well, certainly never better than they did halfway through the third period Monday night.

It was the second time they had combined to score in Game 3 of the Ottawa-Toronto semi-final, the second time young Martin Havlat had earned an assist on a goal by Magnus Arvedson, who usually is more concerned with prevention.

"I knew I wouldn't be there alone," Havlat said yesterday of his break down the left wing that finished in a U-turn and with him looking for a teammate. "Arvie was in the right spot and I tried to get it to him. It was an important goal, I think."

No question. Havlat's pretty feed and Arvedson's wicked shot turned out to be TSN's play of the day. Their first effort broke a scoreless draw at 6:49 of the second period -- Havlat crossing the blue line and dropping a pass to Mike Fisher, whose wrister skipped in off Arvedson's stick shaft -- but this one provided some much-needed padding with just 9:46 left.

Arvedson had gone the first 29 playoff games of his career without scoring, and he admitted having that pointed out was starting to bother him. But not as much as if the team was losing.

The coaching staff put Arvedson and Havlat together at the start of the playoffs, alternating Radek Bonk and Mike Fisher between them. Along with the other winger combinations of Benoit Brunet-Daniel Alfredsson, Shawn McEachern-Marian Hossa and Jody Hull-Chris Neil, the Senators have stumbled onto something.

"It's pretty exciting to play with (Havlat), he's so talented offensively," said Arvedson. "This way, he can do his own thing and I can concentrate on my thing ... I cover him a little bit and be more defensive."

Havlat put it this way: "I'm the kind of guy who sometimes tries to beat a guy 1-on-1 ... and sometimes I don't do a good job.

"It's great when you have someone there to back you up."

Arvedson showed again that he has a good shot Monday, and again the question is asked why he doesn't use it more often.

He tested goalies only 121 times, while collecting 12 goals this season.

"If they gave me the role of scoring, I would," said Arvedson, who thinks passing is stressed more to kids in Sweden. "It's really important that we all accept our roles."

HAPPY DRESSING ROOM

Everybody does. The Senators' room is a happy place, with players doing what they are told and enjoying each other's company, all in the name of team success.

The degree of greed and selfishness dropped dramatically the day the guy who, for an entire year, refused to honour his $3.6-million contract, was traded. But rather than discuss the past, the Senators are enjoying the present. And they're doing so in harmony.

"We've got 20 guys every night who are trying to play the same way," said assistant coach Perry Pearn. "And that's in a very team-first manner. If you're going to have a chance to be successful, you have to have that, or be extremely talented.

"Sometimes you get a feeling, with a group of people, that they're just really happy working with each other. And that's when good things happen."

Everybody's taking turns sharing in the glory, as well. Alfredsson. Patrick Lalime. The defence. Bonk and Hossa. Havlat. Fisher. The fourth line of Juha Ylonen, Hull and Neil.

And now Arvedson and Havlat.

"Depth is one of the strengths of our team," said Pearn. "If you're able to use four lines, you can keep the tempo of your game pretty high. That's our goal, to keep the tempo as high as we can. It plays into another one of our strengths: Speed."

It's also something Arvedson and Havlat have in common.

Arvie, Havlat: Magical match

By DON BRENNAN -- Ottawa Sun

They sit next to each other in the Senators' dressing room, but it's difficult to imagine they have much to talk about -- a 30-year Swede with an infant son and a 21-year old single Czech with no real obligations.

To a certain extent they carry their lifestyles with them onto the ice as the defensively responsible and offensively risk-taking wingers on the team's third line.

But come game time they've communicated well, certainly never better than they did halfway through the third period Monday night.

It was the second time they had combined to score in Game 3 of the Ottawa-Toronto semi-final, the second time young Martin Havlat had earned an assist on a goal by Magnus Arvedson, who usually is more concerned with prevention.

"I knew I wouldn't be there alone," Havlat said yesterday of his break down the left wing that finished in a U-turn and with him looking for a teammate. "Arvie was in the right spot and I tried to get it to him. It was an important goal, I think."

No question. Havlat's pretty feed and Arvedson's wicked shot turned out to be TSN's play of the day. Their first effort broke a scoreless draw at 6:49 of the second period -- Havlat crossing the blue line and dropping a pass to Mike Fisher, whose wrister skipped in off Arvedson's stick shaft -- but this one provided some much-needed padding with just 9:46 left.

Arvedson had gone the first 29 playoff games of his career without scoring, and he admitted having that pointed out was starting to bother him. But not as much as if the team was losing.

The coaching staff put Arvedson and Havlat together at the start of the playoffs, alternating Radek Bonk and Mike Fisher between them. Along with the other winger combinations of Benoit Brunet-Daniel Alfredsson, Shawn McEachern-Marian Hossa and Jody Hull-Chris Neil, the Senators have stumbled onto something.

"It's pretty exciting to play with (Havlat), he's so talented offensively," said Arvedson. "This way, he can do his own thing and I can concentrate on my thing ... I cover him a little bit and be more defensive."

Havlat put it this way: "I'm the kind of guy who sometimes tries to beat a guy 1-on-1 ... and sometimes I don't do a good job.

"It's great when you have someone there to back you up."

Arvedson showed again that he has a good shot Monday, and again the question is asked why he doesn't use it more often.

He tested goalies only 121 times, while collecting 12 goals this season.

"If they gave me the role of scoring, I would," said Arvedson, who thinks passing is stressed more to kids in Sweden. "It's really important that we all accept our roles."

HAPPY DRESSING ROOM

Everybody does. The Senators' room is a happy place, with players doing what they are told and enjoying each other's company, all in the name of team success.

The degree of greed and selfishness dropped dramatically the day the guy who, for an entire year, refused to honour his $3.6-million contract, was traded. But rather than discuss the past, the Senators are enjoying the present. And they're doing so in harmony.

"We've got 20 guys every night who are trying to play the same way," said assistant coach Perry Pearn. "And that's in a very team-first manner. If you're going to have a chance to be successful, you have to have that, or be extremely talented.

"Sometimes you get a feeling, with a group of people, that they're just really happy working with each other. And that's when good things happen."

Everybody's taking turns sharing in the glory, as well. Alfredsson. Patrick Lalime. The defence. Bonk and Hossa. Havlat. Fisher. The fourth line of Juha Ylonen, Hull and Neil.

And now Arvedson and Havlat.

"Depth is one of the strengths of our team," said Pearn. "If you're able to use four lines, you can keep the tempo of your game pretty high. That's our goal, to keep the tempo as high as we can. It plays into another one of our strengths: Speed."

It's also something Arvedson and Havlat have in common.