Devils Unable to Solve Senators

Things are looking bleak for the New Jersey Devils, as they again lost to the eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators, 4-3, Tuesday night at Kanata, Canada, to fall behind, 3 games to 1, in their first-round NHL Eastern Conference series.

But at least the Devils made it interesting by rallying from a 4-1 deficit, scoring two goals in the final six minutes. Only a point-blank save by Ottawa goaltender Damian Rhodes on Doug Gilmour with 1:01 remaining kept things from going to overtime.

“It’s like we’re playing with fire here,” said Devil Coach Jacques Lemaire.

Ottawa forward Daniel Alfredsson scored three goals, burning New Jersey’s top two defensemen in the process and making Devil superstar goaltender Martin Brodeur look ordinary.

Jason York added a power-play goal for the Senators.

Alfredsson, whose three goals were his first of the series, said, “Now they have nothing to lose. If they lose one more, it’s golf for them. We know the fourth one is the toughest one to win. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The Devils finished the regular season 24 points ahead of the eighth-place Senators.

Washington 3, Boston 0--Olaf Kolzig stopped 38 shots for his first career playoff shutout and former Bruin Adam Oates scored twice as the Capitals beat Bruins at Boston to take a 3-1 series lead.

The crowd of 17,131 met Washington’s third goal with a cheer of “Let’s go, Red Sox.” Then, most of them left.

The Capitals, who like the Bruins have not won a playoff series since 1994, can wrap up the series at home on Friday night.

“We’ve been in this situation before, up 3-1, and everyone knows how that ended up. So there’s no celebration,” Kolzig said. “This series is far from over and we expect a tough, tough game.”

Washington has scored the first two goals in each of the series’ first four games.

Colorado 3, Edmonton 1--Claude Lemieux scored his third goal of these playoffs and his 19th playoff game-winner overall to power the Avalanche past the Oilers at Edmonton and give Colorado a 3-1 series lead.

Lemieux ripped a hard shot from the right circle that caught Oiler goaltender Curtis Joseph leaning the wrong way and the puck found the far corner for the game-winner.

“He’s always stepping up in the playoffs,” said linemate Peter Forsberg, who set up Lemieux and scored twice. “He’s really a class player. Not that he has been bad in the regular season, but the playoffs--that’s his game.”

Lemieux moved into second place on the all-time list in game-winning goals--one ahead of Maurice (Rocket) Richard and five behind Wayne Gretzky.

Detroit 5, Phoenix 2--Igor Larionov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Jamie Macoun scored second-period goals as the Detroit Red Wings regained home ice by beating the Coyotes at Phoenix.

The defending Stanley Cup champions return to Detroit for Game 5 on Thursday tied at 2-2 in the series. Game 6 will be in Phoenix on Sunday, and the Red Wings will have the seventh game, if needed, at home Tuesday.

It was a nick-of-time recovery for the Red Wings, who have not trailed by two games in the postseason since Colorado eliminated them in the Western Conference finals in 1996.

Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood had allowed 13 goals in three games. This time, he gave up a power-play goal to Rick Tocchet in the first period and a goal to Shane Doan in the third, but also had 32 saves.

And the Red Wings, with some of their injured players back on the ice, looked more like the team that has reached the conference finals three straight years.

Larionov and Kozlov scored on two of the 19 Detroit shots on Nikolai Khabibulin before Khabibulin was removed 9:10 into the second period because of a groin pull. Macoun, who had no goals in 77 regular-season and playoff games, made it 3-1 with a rebound goal against Jimmy Waite.

San Jose 1, Dallas 0--Andrei Zyuzin goal with 6:31 gone in overtime sent the Sharks to victory at San Jose and evened the series at two games apiece.