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TORONTO (AP) -- With Curtis Joseph in goal and playoff experience behind them, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in good shape in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Joseph made 30 saves for his ninth career playoff shutout and Darcy Tucker and Mats Sundin scored Wednesday night to give the Leafs a 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators in their playoff opener.
|  | | Darcy Tucker, left, got a hug from Dmitri Khristich after scoring the only goal the Leafs would need. |
"It's a fine line when it comes to the playoffs," Sundin said. "The teams were evenly matched, and Cujo was the difference. He had a great game, as usual."
The second game of the first-round best-of-7 series is Saturday at Toronto. Because of the two days off, the Senators returned to Ottawa following the game.
"You like to get the momentum that a first-game win gives you," Joseph said. "It's a big part of any game, even when you're playing checkers."
Not all was good for the Leafs. Toronto center Yanic Perreault left with six minutes remaining with a knee injury. Coach Pat Quinn says Perreault, one of the league's top faceoff men, will miss the rest of the playoffs, but the Leafs say they won't know the full extent of the injury until Perreault is re-evaluated on Thursday.
Tucker scored in the second period and Sundin added an empty-netter with 20.8 seconds left for the Leafs.
"We got to the puck first a lot of times and during the regular season we didn't do that against that club," Joseph said. "We played hard along the walls and battled real hard, and our defense played really well, getting the puck out of our zone."
The Leafs, a conference finalist last year, had the opportunity to put the game away early but couldn't capitalize.
Three consecutive Ottawa penalties gave Toronto advantages for six of the opening 10 minutes, but the most dangerous shots sailed wide or were blocked by goalie Tom Barrasso.
The Senators regrouped and came out strong in the second period. They got off the first eight shots, and only some outstanding saves by Joseph kept them from taking the lead.
"We had a lot of chances, but they have a great goalie and he made some great saves," Ottawa center Radek Bonk said. "We created a lot of chances. Give credit to their goalie."
Tucker snatched the momentum back for the Leafs at 8:53 after Vaclav Prospal was assessed a cheap penalty for interference near Joseph's crease while the Senators were in possession of the puck.
"I'm kind of shaking," Tucker said. "I'm really excited about getting that first playoff goal."
On the power play, Perreault carried the puck down left wing and into the Senators' zone. He sent a cross-ice pass to the middle that Tucker one-timed. The puck found the near-side bottom corner before Barrasso could slide across his crease.
When Grant Ledyard was penalized two minutes later for kneeing Tie Domi away from the play, Ottawa had committed five of the six penalties.
Back at full strength, the Senators had the next best scoring chance when Joe Juneau skated within 10 feet of Joseph and aimed for the far lower corner. Joseph picked the puck out of the air with his catching mitt.
Shawn Van Allen got away with jumping on Joseph during the ensuing pileup in the crease. Mats Sundin was sent off for hooking on the play. On the Ottawa power play, Joseph stood his ground, and the referees missed Garry Valk spearing Daniel Alfredsson.
Ottawa outshot Toronto 17-7 in the second period -- 24-16 over the first 40 minutes -- yet the Leafs led 1-0. The Senators finished with a 30-21 shots advantage.
Marian Hossa nearly tied the game in the fourth minute of the third when he stole the puck from Danny Markov, skated in alone on Joseph, deked him out of position, but fanned on a backhander.
"I just missed by centimeters," Hossa said.
Barrasso was lifted for an extra attacker with 64 seconds left, after Nik Antropov iced the puck. Bonk got off two shots when the Senators blitzed Joseph, and Hossa whipped a shot off the crossbar.
"I heard it hit the iron," said Joseph, who made his 76th playoff appearance.
Sundin then iced it for Toronto.
Quinn wasn't particularly happy Joseph had to play such a large role.
"We had too many turnovers in the mid-ice area and we had to depend too much on Curtis to win the hockey game," Quinn said.
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NHL Scoreboard
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Dallas 2
Edmonton 1
Toronto 2
Ottawa 0
St. Louis 5
San Jose 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Darcy Tucker's one-timer gives Toronto the lead.
avi: 910 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mayhem! CuJo shuts down the Senators with seconds left.
avi: 860 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Leafs win! Mats Sundin seals it with the empty-net goal.
avi: 790 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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