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Senators can take command of Eastern Conference finals

May 14, 2007 - 3:05 PM Buffalo at Ottawa 7:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference final Ottawa leads, 2-0

OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The Ottawa Senators have put themselves in great position to reach their first Stanley Cup Final since joining the NHL in 1992-93.

With a pair of road victories, the fourth-seeded Senators have taken a two-games-to-none lead over the top-seeded Buffalo Sabres in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. The bitter rivals square off in Ottawa for Monday's Game Three.

This is a rare spot for Ottawa, which had been 0-8 in Game Two's after winning a series opener.

Now the Senators have the luxury of playing the next two games on home ice, where they went 3-1 against the Sabres in the regular season.

The reality for the Sabres is that they need to win four of five games or they will be bounced from the conference finals for the second consecutive season.

The teams are coming off Saturday's up-and-down Game Two, in which defenseman Joe Corvo scored at 4:58 of the second overtime to give the Senators a 4-3 victory.

Ottawa battled back from an early 2-0 deficit and carried a 3-2 lead into the third period. But Buffalo's Daniel Briere scored with 5.8 seconds remaining.

Nine of the last 11 postseason games between Ottawa and Buffalo have been decided by one goal.

The Sabres have scored just three goals in their last 35 power-play opportunities and are 0-for-12 thus far against the Senators.