Belfour Blanks Ottawa Again

Ed Belfour made 37 saves for his second consecutive shutout, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-0 victory over the host Ottawa Senators on Monday night.

The Maple Leafs lead the first-round playoff series, 2-1. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Ottawa.

Belfour kept Toronto in the game in the first period when Ottawa held a 13-4 advantage in shots, and shut the door on the Senators with 17 saves in the third period. Ottawa outshot Toronto, 37-17, overall.

Joe Nieuwendyk scored his second goal of the playoffs, early in the second period. Mats Sundin had a goal on a two-on-one rush in the third period, scoring on one of only two shots by Toronto in the period.

“We kind of weathered the storm early on, in big part thanks to Eddie,” Nieuwendyk said. “He made some incredible saves for us, but that’s sometimes what you get in playoff hockey where one team throws everything at you and gets nothing for it and you find a way to hang in there and chip away, and eventually we got the goals we needed.”

Belfour has held Ottawa scoreless for 138 minutes 21 seconds. He made 31 saves for his first Toronto playoff shutout Saturday in a 2-0 win that gave the Maple Leafs a split of the first two home games of the series.

“I’ve seen it before with him,” said Nieuwendyk, who won a Stanley Cup with Belfour in Dallas in 1999. “He really enjoys this time of year and he’s playing with a lot of focus. He prepares himself better than any goalie I’ve ever played with so it’s a very positive thing for our squad.”

Belfour, who will be 39 on April 21, got his 84th career playoff win to keep pace with New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur for the lead among active goalies.

It was the 13th playoff shutout of his career, moving him past Dominik Hasek into second place among active goalies behind Brodeur.

New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 2 -- Patrik Elias scored two goals and Scott Gomez had three assists at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Devils got back into their first-round playoff series.

Rookie Paul Martin and Brian Gionta scored, and Martin Brodeur made 23 saves to help New Jersey cut the Flyers’ lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1. Game 4 also will be at the same venue Wednesday night.

Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte scored for the Flyers, who twice blew one-goal leads.

The Devils scored three times in five power-play chances.

Tampa Bay 3, New York Islanders 0 -- Nikolai Khabibulin made 28 saves at Uniondale, N.Y., to give the Lightning a 2-1 series lead.

Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis scored early. St. Louis had an empty-net goal with 10 seconds remaining.

All three games in the series have ended 3-0. Game 4 is at Uniondale on Wednesday night.

Khabibulin got the third playoff shutout of his career. He stopped several dangerous shots late in the second period, including two by Mariusz Czerkawski and a slapper by Kenny Jonsson.

Dallas 4, Colorado 3 -- Steve Ott turned a steal at center ice into a breakaway goal 2:11 into overtime, putting the host Stars back in the best-of-seven series.

The Stars tied the score when Philippe Boucher sent a long, wide shot past David Aebischer with 4:27 left in regulation.

The winning play began when Ott blocked a neutral-zone pass from defenseman Adam Foote and took off.

Foote couldn’t catch up to Ott. Neither could Karlis Skrastins, who dived just as Ott sent the puck through a narrow gap between Aebischer and the post.

Dallas trails in the series, 2-1, going into Wednesday night’s game at home.

St. Louis 4, San Jose 1 -- The Blues kept their cool and finally got to Evgeni Nabokov, working their way back into the first-round series.

Late-season pickup Mike Sillinger scored his first career playoff hat trick and Dallas Drake scored on a deflection at St. Louis, where the Blues cut the Sharks’ lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is today at St. Louis.

Nabokov set a franchise record with nine regular-season shutouts and nearly had two in the first two games of the series, stopping 52 of 53 shots in 1-0 and 3-1 victories.