TORONTO, 10 January 2004 — The Ottawa Senators scored five times in the first 13 minutes and went on to register a 7-1 demolition of the injury-depleted Toronto Maple Leafs in NHL play on Thursday.

Chris Neil, Wade Redden, Radek Bonk, Bryan Smolinski and Jason Spezza got the early goals for the Senators, who are now unbeaten in their past 11 games (9-0-2), tying a club record.

Redden got a second goal midway through the final frame. Ken Klee got Toronto’s only goal 5:02 into the third, denying Ottawa netminder Martin Prusek a shutout.

Prusek has given up just 11 goals in going 8-1 his last nine starts. Journeyman Trevor Kidd was in the Toronto net, subbing for the injured Ed Belfour, who is nursing a strained groin.

The Leafs were also without captain Mats Sundin, suspended for tossing his stick into the crowd on Tuesday, and a handful of other regulars. With the win, Ottawa (52) closed to within five points of Toronto (57) in the hard-fought NHL Eastern Conference.

“You really want to come out of these games with a win,” Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson — who failed to collect a point — told Toronto reporters prior to the game. Ottawa got much more than it reckoned for.

In other action, the Boston Bruins got goals from Patrice Bergeron and Mike Knuble late in the third period to down the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. Martin Strbak got Pittsburgh’s lone goal midway through the second, denying Andrew Raycroft a shutout.

In Uniondale, New York, Justin Papineau scored early in the final period and then notched the game-winning goal with just 1:18 remaining as the New York Islanders edged the Edmonton Oilers 3-2. Cory Cross scored for Edmonton late in the third to set the stage for Papineau’s game-winner.

In Philadelphia, Valeri Bure scored 2:56 into overtime to give Florida a rare 4-3 win over the Flyers, who had boasted a 13-3-1 record against the Panthers since the 1999-00 season. Nathan Horton got two of Florida’s three other goals, one on a penalty shot. Radovan Somik, Jeremy Roenick and John LeClair scored for Philadelphia.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Josef Vasicek scored twice and Kevyn Adams added a single goal, all three strikes coming in the second period, to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.

Eric Lindros opened the scoring for New York on assists from Mark Messier and Anson Carter, who also figured in the second Rangers goal.

In Montreal, selected All-Star Game starter Martin St Louis responded to the good news by scoring twice as the Tampa Bay Lightning stunned the Canadiens 4-1, snapping their five-game unbeaten streak. Pierre Dagenais tallied for Montreal early in the second period to deny John Grahame a shutout.

In Nashville, Jason York scored 1:12 into extra time to give the Predators an upset 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche, who had won four straight games. Colorado forced overtime on Paul Kariya’s goal with just 15 seconds remaining in regulation.

In Chicago, Tyler Arnason assisted on all three goals, helping the Blackhawks to a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames. Kyle Calder, Steve Sullivan and Bryan Berard scored for Chicago, with Oleg Saprykin getting Calgary’s lone goal, the game’s first.

In Dallas, scheduled All-Star Game starter Marty Turco turned aside 15 of 16 shots to carry the Stars to a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers, who dropped their fifth straight game. Steve Ott and Scott Young scored for Dallas, with Ronald Petrovicky beating Turco late to cost him a shutout.

In Los Angeles, Magnus Arvedson scored twice and Daniel Sedin added a single goal as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Kings 3-1 to extend their winless drought to 10 games, their worst run since 1996.

In San Jose, Rick Nash notched his 23rd goal with just nine seconds remaining in overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 3-2 win over the Pacific Division-leading Sharks.

Three Devils, Stars Voted NHL All-Star Starters

Meanwhile, one of the NHL’s most disappointing teams will have three starters in the All-Star Game.

The Dallas Stars are in 10th place in the Western Conference, but goaltender Marty Turco, right wing Bill Guerin and center Mike Modano were leading vote-getters at their respective positions in final balloting released Thursday.

Turco had 79,305 votes, Guerin received 86,657 and Modano 86,119, good enough for all three to start in the annual game on Feb. 8 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ironically, the Stars moved from Minnesota to Texas following the 1992-93 season.