2006 – 07 Ottawa Senators season The 2006 – 07 Ottawa Senators season ( the team ' s 14th season ) saw the team rebound from a disappointing early exit from the 2006 playoffs . The team made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the Anaheim Ducks . After numerous personnel changes at the start of the season , the team had a poor record until December . The poor record sparked numerous trade rumours in the media . The team turned their play around to place second in the division and won three playoff series to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals , the first in Ottawa in 80 years . Off - season . Player Changes . In July 2006 , the Senators lost four players to free agency ; defencemen Zdeno Chara ( who signed a 5 – year deal with the Boston Bruins ) , Brian Pothier ( who signed with the Washington Capitals ) , goalie Dominik Hasek ( who signed a 1 – year deal with the Detroit Red Wings ) , and forward Vaclav Varada ( who signed with HC Davos of the Swiss Elite League ) . Former Carolina Hurricanes starter Martin Gerber was signed to fill the void left by Hasek , and Ottawa also signed defenceman Joe Corvo , formerly of the Los Angeles Kings . A short time later , they traded star forward Martin Havlat and centre Bryan Smolinski to the Chicago Blackhawks for Tom Preissing , Josh Hennessy , Michal Barinka , and a second - round draft pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft . The club signed Russian centre Alexei Kaigorodov to a two - year entry level contract . They also signed blueliner Jamie Allison and re - signed Antoine Vermette , Chris Neil , and Peter Schaefer to avoid arbitration proceedings . In addition , Ottawa re - signed Chris Kelly and Jason Spezza to two - year contracts each , as well as Christoph Schubert . Midway through the season , the Senators acquired centre Mike Comrie and left wing Oleg Saprykin from the Phoenix Coyotes . They would also acquire defenceman Lawrence Nycholat from the Washington Capitals . Regular season . The goaltending duty was platooned between Ray Emery and Martin Gerber at first . Gerber struggled and Emery won the starting job . Highlights . After starting with a 21 – 18 – 1 record until the end of December , Ottawa played better from January on ( 27 – 7 – 8 ) . On January 3 , 2007 , Ottawa acquired centre Mike Comrie from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for prospect Alexei Kaigorodov . Ottawa was in need of another centre due to injuries and was eager to shed Kaigorodov , who was suspended for refusing an assignment to the Senators ' American Hockey League affiliate , the Binghamton Senators , instead opting to play in Russia . Dany Heatley was the representative for Ottawa at the 2007 All - Star Game for the East , managing a 94 . 0 Miles per hour slapshot in the skills competition and a goal and two assists in the East ' s 12 – 9 loss to the West . For the ' YoungStars ' game , sophomore defenceman Andrej Meszaros and forward Patrick Eaves participated . On February 22 , 2007 , the Senators were involved in a huge fight with the Buffalo Sabres over an alleged late hit by Neil on Sabres co - captain Chris Drury . Although the referees ruled it was a legal hit ( and replays and analysts concurred after the game ) , a fight ensued after play restarted . Eight players were assessed a total of 100 penalty minutes , and five players , including Senators Ray Emery and Chris Phillips , were ejected . The Senators lost the match , 6 – 5 , in a shootout , one of a record eight overtime games and four shootouts that night . The team finished second in the Northeast division , behind the Presidents ' Trophy - winning Buffalo Sabres , and third in the conference in points ( the team was seeded fourth due to the precedence of divisional winners ) . Because the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs both narrowly missed the playoffs , the Senators were the only Canadian - based team in the Eastern Conference to qualify for the playoffs . Playoffs . The Ottawa Senators ended the 2006 – 07 regular season as the Eastern Conference ' s fourth seed . The Senators started the playoffs against the fifth - seeded Pittsburgh Penguins , whom they defeated four games to one . The second - seeded New Jersey Devils were their next opponent , with the same four - games - to - one result , again in favor of the Senators . In the Eastern Conference Final , the Senators faced the top - seeded Buffalo Sabres . Once again , Ottawa won in five games , which gave the Senators their first ever trip to the Stanley Cup Finals . This was also the Sens ' first series win against the Sabres . The Anaheim Ducks were their opponent in the finals and the four - games - to - one result stayed the same for the Senators , the only difference being this time it was in the opposing team ' s favor . The Ducks were successful in shutting down the Senators ' s top line to the point where it was broken up in game five . All games were close except for game five which the Senators lost 6 – 2 , when two goals went in off Senators defencemen and Phillips caused an own - goal , which turned out to be the game - winning and Cup - winning goal attributed to Travis Moen , and possibly the only such goal in Finals history . Alfredsson was the Senators ' top forward in the series as he had been all playoffs , scoring four goals . Heatley and Spezza were held to one goal and two assists in total . Key Contributors . After a poor start to the season , several players picked up their play and the Senators played well from December to the Stanley Cup Finals . The defence pairing of Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov won praise from the media for their " shutdown effectiveness " against opposing top lines . The ' CASH line ' of Spezza , Heatley , and Alfredsson was outstanding offensively , scoring nearly half of the Senators ' goals in the post - season , appearing on " The Hockey News " cover for their play . The line tied for the NHL and team scoring lead with 22 points in 20 playoff games . Goaltender Ray Emery played all 20 games and posted 13 wins . Eastern Conference Quarter - final : vs . ( 5 ) Pittsburgh Penguins . " Ottawa wins series 4 – 1 " Eastern Conference Semi - final : vs . ( 2 ) New Jersey Devils . " Ottawa wins series 4 – 1 " Eastern Conference Final : vs . ( 1 ) Buffalo Sabres . " Ottawa wins series 4 – 1 " Stanley Cup Final : vs . ( W2 ) Anaheim Ducks . " Anaheim wins series 4 – 1 " Roster . Sources : Draft picks . 2006 . Ottawa ' s picks at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver , British Columbia . Notes : References . < div class = " references - small " >