Ottawa Senators rely on rookie in net

OTTAWA --The route the Ottawa Senators expected to pursue in their latest Stanley Cup bid veered sharply in an unexpected direction in Turin.

Rookie goalie Ray Emery will carry the load in front of the net when Ottawa hosts Tampa Bay on Friday night, just as he has since Dominik Hasek was injured in his first game with the Czech Republic during the Olympics in February.

Handed the starting job by default, Emery ran with the opportunity, winning 12 games in March to tie Hall of Famer Bernie Parent's league record for wins in a month. And a big part of Emery's success was his ability to provide steady and assured play behind a potent offense that led the NHL with 312 goals.

He'll need to provide more of that against the defending Cup champion Lightning, who clung to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after failing to find a suitable replacement for Nikolai Khabibulin in the net. They still boast Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards up front.

"I think it should be a pretty exciting series," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "There's no question, I think both teams have a lot of offense and I think the team that plays the best defense is probably going to win, but I think there should be some fast-paced hockey."

Ottawa outscored Tampa Bay 16-6 overall while sweeping the four-game regular-season series.

Alfredsson tied Dany Heatley as the Senators' leading scorers with a team-record 103 points. Heatley, acquired from Atlanta in an August trade that sent Marian Hossa to the Thrashers, scored his 50th goal in the Senators' last game to become the first Ottawa player to reach that plateau.

Center Jason Spezza had 90 points in 68 games, including a team-record 71 assists.

"I think that we've got some people that score goals pretty easily in some games, and I think they'll take advantage of some opportunity here," coach Bryan Murray said.

Despite limping through the final months of the season, Murray tied a team record with 52 wins as the Senators claimed first overall in the East with a 5-1 victory in New York on Tuesday to finish with 113 points, one more than Carolina.

In addition to losing Hasek, Ottawa battled through other injuries, at one point dealing with the absences of top four defensemen: Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov. Rookie Andrej Meszaros and Brian Pothier shouldered the load on the blue line during that stretch, gaining invaluable experience in a variety of situations.

And right wing Martin Havlat returned from shoulder surgery late in the regular season, as if the offense needed the boost.

It's uncertain if the unpredictable Hasek will ever play another game for the Senators. Still sidelined by a groin injury, the two-time NHL MVP was actually shooed off the ice by Murray at the outset of Wednesday's practice to ensure that Emery and backup Mike Morrison got their work in with the team.

Having been derailed in the playoffs so many times before, the Senators can look to one good omen: The road to the Cup it won't pass through Toronto. Over the last five seasons, Ottawa, which lost a seven-game conference final to New Jersey in 2003, was eliminated by the provincial-rival Maple Leafs four times.