2002 – 03 Ottawa Senators season The 2002 – 03 Ottawa Senators season saw the Senators reach the highest point in the playoffs until the 2006 – 07 season . They were eliminated by the New Jersey Devils , the eventual Stanley Cup winning team in the Eastern Conference final . On top of their larger success , with their total 113 points they won the President ' s Trophy , the Northeast Division title and the Eastern Conference title . After their long history of debt problems , the Senators filed for bankruptcy on January 9 , 2003 . Fortunately , they continued regular season play after getting some emergency financing from the NHL . Despite the off - ice problems , they had a successful year , compared to their early day woes . The President ' s Trophy awarded to the Senators making them the first Canadian team to win it since the Calgary Flames in 1989 . In the playoffs they defeated their former teammate Alexei Yashin and his New York Islanders , then the Philadelphia Flyers before coming within one game of making it into the finals , falling to the Devils . Regular season . Right winger Marian Hossa lead the scoring for Ottawa with a huge gap over the rest of the roster , just passing Yashin ' s past record of 44 . Without a goaltending situation , Patrick Lalime showed one of his best years , with career bests in GAA and wins . Despite a slow start to the season after an even . 500 ratio , the Senators turned around their game with a 10 – game unbeaten streak . Fans were cornerened if their start was with the off - ice problems however this was soon irrelevant to the fans when they again made a playoff berth . Before the playoffs , the Senators explained they need more grit , so two separate trades to Buffalo included tough guys Vaclav Varada and Rob Ray respectively , plus two - way forward Bryan Smolinski from the Los Angeles Kings . Playoffs . In the first round of the playoffs the team played the New York Islanders , facing former team captain Alexei Yashin for the first time in the playoffs . Yashin played well in the first game and the Islanders won the first game at the Corel Centre 3 – 0 . The loss by the Senators was attributed to paying too much attention to stopping Yashin and not enough on the rest of the Islanders . The Senators adjusted their play for the next game winning it and the next three games in a row to win the series 4 – 1 . In the second round , the team faced the Philadelphia Flyers who had defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round . The Senators won the series on the basis of their strong defence , holding the Flyers to only ten goals in the six games , advancing to the Eastern Conference final series against the New Jersey Devils to decide the Prince of Wales Trophy . The first two games of the series were in Ottawa and the wins were split between the Senators and Devils . In New Jersey , the Devils won both games to put the Senators at the brink of elimination . However , the Senators came back , winning the fifth game at home and the sixth game in New Jersey to force a seventh and deciding game at home . In the seventh game , New Jersey took the lead twice , only to see Ottawa tie twice . The game was tied 2 – 2 , when with two minutes remaining , Devils ' forward Jeff Friesen deked out Patrick Lalime and shot over his leg pad , into the net , to score the series - winning goal . Eastern Conference Quarter - final vs . ( 8 ) New York Islanders . Date Opponent W - L Score Eastern Conference Semi - final vs . ( 4 ) Philadelphia Flyers . 4 / 25 / 2003 Philadelphia Flyers W 4 – 2 Eastern Conference Final vs . ( 2 ) New Jersey Devils . 5 / 10 / 2003 New Jersey Devils W 3 – 2 Transactions . Waivers . Source : Roster . Sources : Draft picks . Ottawa ' s draft picks from the 2002 NHL Entry Draft held on June 22 and June 23 , 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto , Ontario .