Ottawa one victory from claiming Presidents' Trophy

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Not too many people can claim ''We're No. 1'' while they're bankrupt. The Ottawa Senators can.


The Senators grabbed the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time in the franchise's 10-year history Thursday night with a 5-1 rout of the Washington Capitals.

''It shows something to the league and to the fans -- that they can't count us out,'' left wing Vaclav Varada said. ''We feel strong. We've just got to keep working hard.''

Peter Schaefer and Daniel Alfredsson scored two goals apiece as the Senators, who filed for bankruptcy in January, set a franchise-record with 111 points, breaking the mark of 109 set in 2000-01. A victory over Toronto on Saturday will give Ottawa the Presidents' Trophy and home ice throughout the postseason.

Meanwhile, the Capitals' defeat gave Tampa Bay the Southeast Division title, the first division crown in the Lightning's 11-year history. Tampa Bay will have the No. 3 seed and Washington the No. 6 seed, and they will meet in the first round of the playoffs next week.

''I am just disappointed that we didn't put up more of a fight for it,'' coach Bruce Cassidy said. ''It looked like we were content to take our seed now and get ready for next week.''

The Capitals can only be happy that they won't see the Senators in the first round. Crisp-passing Ottawa dominated Washington all over the ice by winning loose pucks, choking the neutral zone and getting a superb game from goaltender Patrick Lalime, who had 27 saves.

''We've been playing the way we've been playing the last few weeks against that team, and they exposed it,'' said goaltender Olaf Kolzig, who was pulled after two periods. ''Tonight we got away from our system. So basically all we did was make it easy on Tampa.''

Jody Hull also scored for the Senators, who have won five in a row on the road. Jason Spezza had three assists, and Martin Havlat had two assists.

Robert Lang managed Washington's only goal, which came 1:57 into a two-minute, five-on-three power play.

The Capitals' low point came late in the first period, when Rick Berry leveled Varada with a punch to the head. Varada crashed to the ice and his helmet popped off, but he wasn't injured, and came up with a smile on his face because he knew he had drawn a huge penalty.

Berry got seven minutes for instigating and fighting and was ejected from the game. Alfredsson scored at the end of the long power play to give the Senators a 3-0 lead.

''It wasn't very smart what he did,'' Varada said. ''He put his team down seven minutes, and we ended up scoring on a goal. They can't do that once the playoffs start. It's good for us if they're going to continue to do that.''

Havlat was the catalyst for the first two goals, skating behind the net to find an unchecked Schaefer and fighting off Berry from behind to feed Hull.

Lalime had a stellar outing, stopping Jaromir Jagr twice from close range in the first period and stopping Michael Nylander on a two-on-none breakaway in the second.

The Senators, while happy with their title, tempered any thoughts of outright celebration in the locker room. They've had too many early playoff exits in recent years to do too much boasting right now.

''As important as it is,'' Spezza said, ''once the playoffs start, everyone's at even ground again.''

Game notes
Ottawa center Bryan Smolinski missed the game after traveling to Los Angeles for the birth of his baby son Wednesday night. ... Defenseman Shane Hindy sat out after getting cross-checked in the throat against Boston on Tuesday. ... Center Shaun Van Allen returned after missing four games following a kidney stone operation. ... Defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn got an assist in his first game back after missing 10 with an ankle injury. ... The Capitals rested defenseman Ken Klee (foot), defenseman Brendan Witt (rib) and left wing Sergei Berezin (arm).