Maple Leafs Finally Finish Off Islanders

The Toronto Maple Leafs limped into the second round of the playoffs. At least they’ll have the extra home game against Ottawa.

Judging by their seven-game series with the New York Islanders, the Maple Leafs may need it.

Alexander Mogilny scored twice and the Maple Leafs beat the Islanders, 4-2, Tuesday night to win their Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series, 4-3.

Toronto won all four home games despite not having captain Mats Sundin (broken left wrist) for most of the series. They also were without Shayne Corson, suspended for Game 7.

“I can honestly say I’ve never been prouder,” Toronto’s Tie Domi said. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity and we didn’t make any excuses. Everybody wrote us off when we lost our leader.”

The Maple Leafs will face provincial rival Ottawa, which eliminated Philadelphia in five games. The series begins Thursday night at Toronto.

Mogilny gave Toronto a 2-1 lead in the second period and scored his fourth goal of the playoffs on an empty-netter with 40 seconds left.

“We never quit,” Mogilny said. “Everybody stepped up in different games and in different times. Cujo was huge for us throughout the series.”

Toronto’s Curtis Joseph made 31 saves, with several outstanding stops in the waning moments.

“We didn’t play very well on the road,” Joseph said. “They played exceptionally well at home. It was a battle. Thank goodness we had home-ice advantage.”

Alexei Yashin and Kip Miller scored for the Islanders, who lost captain Michael Peca (torn knee ligaments) and defenseman Kenny Jonsson (concussion) in Game 5 on controversial body checks.

New York’s Dave Scatchard said it was the dirtiest series in which he has played.

“Intensity brings that out, I guess. It’s unfortunate, but it was pretty intense hockey, that’s for sure,” Scatchard said.

New York, making its first playoff appearance in eight years, lost the first two games at Toronto before winning consecutive games at Long Island. The Maple Leafs won Game 5 at Toronto, during which Gary Roberts checked Jonsson from behind into the glass and Darcy Tucker injured Peca with a hip check.

Emotionally charged by those incidents, the Islanders won a fight-filled Game 6.

There was no fighting and far less violence in Game 7 as players didn’t want to cost their team the series with a dumb penalty.

“Both teams were trying to be smart,” Roberts said. “It was a tough game for the enforcers to play.”