1997 – 98 Ottawa Senators season The 1997 – 98 Ottawa Senators season would see the Senators face the challenge of improving on their very successful 1996 – 97 season , when they made the playoffs for the first time in team history . The 1997 – 98 season would be even more successful , as Ottawa finished over . 500 for the first time in club history , qualified for the playoffs for the second straight year , and won their first playoff series in modern club history . The Senators defeated the # 1 seed New Jersey Devils in six games , before falling to the Washington Capitals in five games in the second round . Regular season . Alexei Yashin would lead the club offensively , with 72 points ( 33 goals - 39 assists ) in 82 games . Damian Rhodes and Ron Tugnutt would once again do a very good job in the Senators net , helping set a club record for fewest goals allowed with 200 . The Alexandre Daigle era came to an end midway through the season , as the Senators traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Vaclav Prospal and Pat Falloon . Playoffs . The Ottawa Senators ended the 1997 – 98 regular season as the Eastern Conference ' s eighth seed . Daniel Alfredsson , who missed 27 games in the regular season due to injuries , would lead the team with nine points ( seven goals and two assists ) in the playoffs and the club won its first round matchup , an upset win over the New Jersey Devils Eastern Conference Quarter - finals : vs . ( 1 ) New Jersey Devils . On paper , the series was a big mismatch as the Devils had finished 24 points ahead in the standings . One American newspaper covering the playoffs did not even preview the series , expecting a easy win for the Devils . The Devils were characterized as arrogant , although the Devils and the Senators had split their season series . Randy McKay , asked which player on the Senators he respected , said " To be honest , I ' d have to see their ( roster ) list . " The series opened in New Jersey . In the first game , the Senators got a 1 – 0 lead and held onto it until 3 : 24 was left in the third period , when Doug Gilmour scored to tie the game . After the goal , the Devils got several penalties in a row , including some in overtime . Although the Senators went 0 – 6 on the power play , they managed to win the game on an overtime winner from Bruce Gardiner at 5 : 58 . In the second game , the Devils won the game on the offence of Gilmour who assisted on the first goal and scored the second , game - winning goal and an empty netter to tie the series . The series now moved to Ottawa for the third and fourth games . In the third game , Damian Rhodes played outstanding and Alexei Yashin scored the winner , 2 : 47 into overtime on the power play . According to the Devils ' goalie Martin Brodeur : " It ' s Rhodes , that ' s the bottom line . He has been tremendous . We ' re getting the puck to him , we ' re getting rebounds , but he closes the door every time . " Coach Lemaire refused to appear for the post - game press conference . The Senators won the fourth game on the strength of three goals by Daniel Alfredsson to win the game 4 – 3 . The Senators had led 4 – 1 but late goals by Scott Stevens and Gilmour , with 69 seconds left , made it close . The series now returned to New Jersey , with the Devils on the brink of elimination . In the fifth game , Brodeur stopped 22 shots of 23 , and assisted on a short - handed goal and the Devils won 3 – 1 . Gilmour scored the game - winner and the Devils staved off elimination . In the sixth and deciding game , Janne Laukkanen scored the winner , giving the Senators the lead and Igor Kravchuk scored an empty net goal to complete the upset . After the game , Scott Stevens commented " The bottom line is that they ' re an average team that played great . And we ' re an above average team that played poorly . " The headlines from other newspapers labelled the playoff win a ' titanic upset ' and ' sensational upset ' . " Ottawa wins series 4 – 2 . " Eastern Conference Semi - finals : vs . ( 4 ) Washington Capitals . The Senators could not capitalize on their first - round win and the Capitals took the series in five games . " Washington wins series 4 – 1 " Transactions . Waivers . Source :