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BOX SCORE
TORONTO (AP) -- The Battle of Ontario turned into target practice for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
|  | | Steve Thomas beats Sens goalie Tom Barrasso for his second goal of the game. |
Steve Thomas scored twice and Darcy Tucker, Mats Sundin and Sergei Berezin added one each in a 5-1 Toronto victory Saturday night that gave the Leafs a 2-0 lead in the first-round NHL playoff series.
Sami Salo was the only Ottawa player to put a puck behind Curtis Joseph, who played another strong game.
Game 3 in the best-of-7 series is Monday at Ottawa.
This one was close -- but just for one period.
"We wanted to play a physical game, without a doubt," Thomas said. "We thought that if we came out and set a tone in the first 10 minutes, let them know we were ready to play and this was going
to be our game, that would plant a little bit of a seed in their minds."
After a scoreless first, the Leafs took control with three goals in a 3:03 span early in the second.
Tucker pushed in a rebound at :46 as he was being knocked down from behind by Jason York. Tucker also scored his team's first goal in Game 1, and has been a sparkplug since being acquired late in the season from Tampa Bay.
"I've waited a long time for this," Tucker said. "It's an unbelievable feeling to know you can contribute to a hockey club that has a chance to do something special.
"I'm going out there and having a great time, the kick of my life. I wanted to play especially good tonight because my brother-in-law (Montreal's Shayne Corson) was in the stands. I wanted to play well in front of him."
Sundin beat Tom Barrasso with an unscreened wrist shot from just inside the Ottawa blue line at 1:28. Thomas then whacked a one-handed Sundin pass in from the right-wing circle at 3:49.
"Mats' goal was a big one," Joseph said. "That seemed to really ignite the fire."
Thomas made it 4-0 at 12:46. Jonas Hoglund fed him a breakaway pass on the right wing. Thomas cut to his left to the net, and Barrasso moved across his crease and went down. Thomas put on the
brakes, stopped, turned, pulled the puck to his backhand, and slid it into the vacated side of the net.
"We got down and we started to press and we gave up a few odd-man rushes," Barrasso said. "We needed to put some pressure on them after we got behind."
All that was left to determine was the size of Toronto's winning margin. Leafs coach Pat Quinn was feeling so comfortable that he sent fourth-line winger Tie Domi out for a power-play shift.
Salo got Ottawa's first goal of the series when, on a power play, he lifted a rising wrist shot past Joseph at 19:05 of the second period.
"The second period was really bad," Salo said. "No one supported each other and they outplayed us. Tom played well, but we didn't help him at all."
Berezin, one of Toronto's best snipers, scored 5:36 into the third period. Open on the left wing, Berezin slapped at a cross-ice pass from Igor Korolev and the puck found the open side of the net.
Domi, knocked to the ice in the second period by Patrick Traverse, got even by dropping Traverse with a shoulder.
"They were all over us," Senators defenseman Grant Ledyard said.
The Senators are not nearly as formidable an opponent without top defenseman Wade Redden, who can't play in the series because of a broken foot.
Ottawa outshot Toronto 30-25, but the Leafs had the best scoring chances.
"The defense was letting me see the puck and clearing out rebounds," Joseph said.
Barrasso said the Senators have the ability to grab momentum away from Toronto.
"I think we have it in the room," he said. "It's just a matter of putting it on the ice."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Ottawa Clubhouse
Toronto Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Steve Thomas scores his second goal of the game.
avi: 700 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Darcy Tucker crashes the net for the goal.
avi: 699 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Sami Salo beats Curtis Joseph.
avi: 717 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mats Sundin scores with the wrister.
avi: 774 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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