Hockey - Senators Strike First, and Emery Silences Devils

OTTAWA ? Ray Emery held off the Devils on Monday night until his Ottawa Senators teammates could find a way to score on Martin Brodeur.

Emery stopped 25 shots and Tom Preissing scored 4 minutes 46 seconds into the third period for the Senators in a 2-0 victory in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Ottawa leads in the best-of-seven series, 2-1. Game 4 will be Wednesday.

The shutout for Emery was his second of the playoffs. His first came in the victory that clinched Ottawa?s first-round series against Pittsburgh.

Brodeur, who has 22 career postseason shutouts and 94 playoff victories, finished with 32 saves.

?It?s definitely great to play against a legend of the game like that, and it?s a great feeling to win,? Emery said.

Preissing beat Brodeur with a high shot from a tight angle in front of the right boards for a 1-0 lead.

?At some point, something?s going to have to go in,? Preissing said. ?It just happened to be on my shot. If I had five more shots like that, probably none of them would go in.?

Jason Spezza scored into an empty net with 56 seconds to play.

Brodeur said that he was disappointed that the referees had not seen Senators center Mike Fisher make contact with him on Preissing?s goal.

?I got touched,? Brodeur said. ?It?s unfortunate he didn?t make the call on it. He probably didn?t think it was enough for him to call, but it definitely took my concentration away.?

Fisher acknowledged that he made contact with Brodeur.

?I got a piece of Brodeur and I tripped him up a little bit, and Preissing got the shot away,? he said. ?It was a great shot. I didn?t intentionally try to trip him.?

Devils Coach Lou Lamoriello said he did not care about Fisher?s intent.

?That was interference on the goaltender,? Lamoriello said, adding, ?I don?t think it matters whether it was intentional or not. He made contact with the goalie.?

The Senators ended five-game points streaks by Brian Gionta, who had scored in five consecutive games, and Scott Gomez, who is the playoffs scoring leader.

The game was scoreless through the first two periods. Ottawa mounted the more sustained attack; the Devils sought to be opportunistic. Each team had plenty of chances, but Brodeur and Emery came up with big saves.

The Senators actually put the puck in the net twice in the first period, but each time a whistle had just blown to stop play.

The first time, Brodeur made a save, then Spezza drove to the crease and jammed the puck into the net. The referee Kelly Sutherland quickly interrupted the celebration, waving off the goal from his position directly behind the net.

The second time, the Senators were on the power play with 3.1 seconds remaining in the first. Antoine Vermette got the puck off a scramble and put a shot past Brodeur, but time had expired.

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