Devils Finish Off Bruins

2003 Playoffs

Brodeur bounced back after being pulled in Game 4 when he surrendered five goals on 24 shots.

"You hear comments that people aren't too sure how I was going to react," Brodeur said. "It's nice to go out and do it. You don't look back. You just play the game."

Jamie Langenbrunner scored two goals and John Madden had a goal and two assists for the Devils, who advance to the second round erasing memories of their embarrassing first-round exit last year.

"It was definitely nice to win a series again. It's been a while," Devils captain Scott Stevens said. "I thought, with the exception of the one game, we did a great job keeping the goals against down."

Boston's big guns, Joe Thornton and Glen Murray were limited to one goal each in the series as the Bruins exit from the playoffs in the first round for the second straight year.

"It doesn't matter what seed you are," Murray said. "We lost in the first round and didn't get it done. This is the real season and we have to get it done then."

Sens Send Isles Packing
Radek Bonk scored twice as the Ottawa Senators beat the New York Islanders 4-1 Thursday night to win their first-round playoff series in five games.

"Our confidence definitely grew as the series went on," Todd White said. "We might have been a little bit nervous to start the series but I think as it went on we gained more and more confidence and played the type of hockey that we played during the regular season."

Martin Havlat and White also scored for the Senators, who advanced to the conference semifinals for the second straight year and the third time in franchise history. They have never been beyond the second round of the playoffs.

"I think we've learned that it doesn't matter if we're the favorite, we've just got to play our game and do the things we do best," Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden said.

Stars One Win Away
Scott Young and Sergei Zubov scored power-play goals 53 seconds apart midway through the first period as the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2, to take a three games to two lead in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

"We're happy to be starting to hit our stride," Young said. "We're playing more consistent day in and day out. The urgency is there. You can see it. We felt we really had to win this game."

Zubov had a dominant game with two goals and an assist and Mike Modano and Manny Malhotra also scored for the Stars, who can finish the series Saturday night in Edmonton.

"We've been fighting back, fighting back," Modano said. "It's nice to finally get the lead in the series."