Senators break through, eliminate Devils

First Sid the Kid and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils. All in 10 games.

The Ottawa Senators are finally delivering in the playoffs after a decade of disappointing failures.

Jason Spezza scored the go-ahead goal and set up another by Daniel Alfredsson in a three-goal second period on Saturday night as Ottawa beat to Devils 3-2 in East Rutherford, N.J. to win their Eastern Conference semifinal 4-1.

Goaltender Ray Emery, who showed no effects from a minor automobile accident in Ottawa on Friday, made 27 saves to cap a series in which he clearly outplayed Brodeur, who set an NHL record with 48 wins this season.

Scott Gomez scored twice for New Jersey in what may have been the final Devils’ game at the Continental Airlines Arena. The three-time Stanley Cup champions are moving to a new arena in Newark next season.

The Senators will face either the Buffalo Sabres or New York Rangers in the conference final with the winner earning a trip to the Stanley Cup finals.

While Ottawa has been to the playoffs the last 10 years, it has never made it to the finals.

Red Wings 4, Sharks 1: At Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg each scored a goal and set up two others, leading putting Detroit within one victory of reaching the Western Conference finals with a 3-2 series lead.

Datsyuk turned San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov’s misplay into the winning goal late in the second period, and Nabokov didn’t seem the same after that, surrendering a pair of third-period power-play goals.

Defenseman Mathieu Schneider broke his wrist during the first period and will miss the rest of the playoffs, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. Schneider was hurt when checked by Sharks captain Patrick Marleau.

NHL, IIHF reach pact

The NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation agreed on a four-year deal in which all transfers from Europe to the NHL would be regulated with compensation and a signing deadline. The IIHF member national associations have until midnight Tuesday to ratify the agreement.