MONTREAL -- One thing the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens agreed on at the end of their sometimes bitter playoff series was that it all came down to goaltending. Craig Andersons rock-solid play and some shaky moments for Montreal backup Peter Budaj put the Senators through to the second round of NHL playoffs with a 6-1 romp over the Canadiens on Thursday night. Ottawa won the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final 4-1 and will move on to the second round for the first time since 2007, when they reached the Stanley Cup final only to fall to the Anaheim Ducks. "Finding a way to win two games in this building feels great and so was being able to finish it off on our first chance," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "Andy made some great saves and we took over more and more as the game went on." Anderson, who posted heady numbers in the regular season, was just as sharp in the playoffs, holding the usually high-scoring Canadiens to nine goals in five games while his own supposedly low-scoring team piled on 20 against Montreal. "For our team, Craig Anderson obviously was the MVP of this playoff series," said Ottawa coach Paul MacLean. "He was outstanding in every game. "He gives us a chance to bend but not break, to recover, get our bearings. And once we do that, were able to establish our game." He got no argument from his Montreal counterpart Michel Therrien. "He was the player of the series," he said. Anderson made the difference right off the bat in this one. Injury-wracked Montreal stormed out of the gates, but Anderson shot out his glove for a brilliant save on Rene Bourque in the opening moments. At the other end, a clearly nervous Budaj, making his first career playoff start, coughed up a huge rebound on Ottawas first chance and Zack Smith put it in only 2:17 into the game. "I think everyone took a good deep breath after that and said We can start playing now," Anderrson said of the save. "They came out hard. "My job is to give the team a chance to win no matter if its the first minute or the last." Therrien avoided direct reference to Budajs play, other than: "We came to play and we worked hard, but every time. . . (the Senators) capitalized on their chances, lets put it that way." The first ever playoff meeting in the modern era between the teams only two hours apart on highway 417 featured some nasty moments and name-calling. But at the end only kind words were voiced, although with the two coaches exchanging only the briefest of handshakes on the ice. The series opener saw Montreal centre Lars Eller stretchered off the Bell Centre ice covered in blood from a hit by Eric Gryba. MacLeans defence of his blue-liner prompted Canadiens tough guy Brandon Prust to call him a "bug-eyed, fat walrus." Game 3 disintegrated into a full-scale brawl and more verbal exchanges. None of it seemed to matter when it was over, even if the Ottawa players were reportedly singing the Montreal fans "Ole Ole" song as they left the ice. "I thought the whole series was fun," said MacLean. "I didnt think it was bitter at any time. At the end of the series its just good job, good job. I congratulate Michel on his team." However, he could not hide his glee with what his team accomplished. "We just beat the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup playoffs,"he said. "I mean, to me thats huge. Im going to call my mom and say we finally beat her team." The victory gives Ottawa time to rest up and heal bruises before the conference semifinals begin next week. Cory Conacher had two goals while Alfredsson, Kyle Turris, and Erik Condra also scored for Ottawa, who were underdogs as the seventh seed in the East but were bolstered down the stretch by the return of top players like defencemen Erik Karlsson and Jared Cowan. P.K. Subban scored for Montreal, which had five players injured in the series, including starting goalie Carey Price. Budaj made 23 saves in his place. After Smiths goal, another puck slipped behind Budaj and off a post, where Conacher tapped it in at 12:26. Montreal got one back on their first power play with 15 seconds to go in the period, as Subban wired a low point shot to the far corner. The Bell Centre crowd booed as Turris gave Ottawa a 3-1 lead shorthanded at 11:29 of the second frame. The Senators centre was pushed into Budaj by Tomas Plekanec and was on his hands and knees in the crease when a Condra shot went in off his arm. But it rightly stood up to video review. It was quiet at the 21,273-seat rink as the Senators scored on three straight power-play chances in the third period. Alfredsson wristed a shot in at 6:22, Conacher beat Budaj from the left side at 12:27 and Condra poked in a loose puck in the crease at 16:12. Yet the fans who stuck around to the end still gave the home side a warm ovation for an entertaining season. Montreal finished last in the conference last season and rose to second in the lockout-shortened 2013 campaign. They looked to have recovered from a late-season funk going into the playoffs. They outshot Ottawa and outplayed for long stretches of most of the games, but couldnt find enough goals to win. "Yeah we played hard and sometimes we played better than them, but the final score is we lost the series," said Montreal defenceman Andrei Markov. "We can only blame ourselves." Winger Max Pacioretty reportedly played through a separated shoulder, but wasnt accepting that as an excuse for the loss. "Andersons a great goalie and he played five great games, but we made it easy on him,"said Pacioretty. "We didnt get enough bodies to the net. Thats where a player like me has to do a better job." Notes: Michael Blunden made his playoff debut for Montreal. Robert Mayer backed up Budaj ... Ottawa had no line-up changes from Game 4. Wholesale Air Jordan 4 Uk . The deal is pending a physical, assistant general manager Bobby Evans said. Traded from Seattle to Baltimore on Aug. 30, Morse also can play first base and right field to give manager Bruce Bochy some flexibility in writing his lineup. Cheap Air Jordan 4 Online . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. http://www.cheapairjordan4uk.com/ .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Air Jordan 4 Uk .Y. -- Leading 3-0 with only 11:25 left, the Colorado Avalanche committed a seemingly meaningless penalty to give the New York Islanders a power play. Cheap Air Jordan 4 Uk Sale . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid.PITTSBURGH -- Clint Hurdle grabbed the brim of his cap and ducked his head. When pressed about what pleased him the most about Pittsburghs 9-2 win over St. Louis on Monday, a romp that propelled the resilient Pirates within a half-game of the NL Central lead, the manager thought for a moment and sighed. "Getting a little picky arent we?" he asked with a smile. Hurdle isnt. Neither is his team as it tries to shrug off two decades of misery and mediocrity. Francisco Liriano allowed one run over seven dominant innings, Pedro Alvarez hit his NL-leading 27th home run and the Pirates kicked off a pivotal series by sending the Cardinals to their season-high fourth straight loss. Liriano (11-4) continued his midcareer renaissance by striking out eight and walking just two to win his fifth consecutive start. "Its been a good run for him being able to watch, and thats pretty much what Ive been doing," Pittsburgh centre fielder Andrew McCutchen said. "I dont get a lot of action when hes on the mound. It makes it a lot easier for the defence." Having some help from an underachieving offence helps. The Pirates came in hitting just .221 with runners in scoring position, the worst mark in baseball. Clint Barmes smacked two doubles and drove in two runs and McCutchen added two hits as Pittsburgh went 5 for 13 with runners on second or third to continue its mastery over St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook. The veteran right-hander fell to 1-8 against Pittsburgh in his otherwise solid resume. The Pirates touched Westbrook (7-5) for four runs in the first inning, capped by Alvarezs three-run homer into the first row of seats in right field. "It was a battle from pitch 1 -- and it showed early on," Westbrook said. "Its not really how you draw it up with a walk and a hit batsmen and a single and a homer. Put us in a bad spot against a good team and against a guy whos throwing the ball really well." Hurdle stressed the need to not place too much focus on a late-July series, pointing out two more months remain after the five-game set wraps up on Thursday. Maybe, but with the Pirates chasing their first playoff berth in 21 years and a chance to make inroads on the team with the best record in baseball, the game had an electricity typically reserved for early fall in cities far away from the one that hasnt fielded a winner since 1992. Lower-lever tickets were fetching $100 or more hours before the first pitch, and Liriano did not disappoint the largest Monday-night crowd (32,084) since the park opened. The left-hander, whose path to stardom veered off track after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2007, had little trouble with the most explosive offence in the majors.dddddddddddd He retired the first 10 batters he faced and kept the best-hitting team in the National League on its heels while dropping his ERA to 2.16. "Frankie can answer," Hurdle said. "Hes been in big matchups before." So has Westbrook, who still hasnt figured out a way to handle the Pirates. He was touched for four runs in the first inning of his previous start at PNC Park in April. The game was eventually washed out. The weather couldnt save him this time. Neither could Westbrooks usually solid control. He issued three walks and hit three batters and never appeared comfortable. "Hes going to go out there and give us whatever hes got every time and for whatever reason this teams just given him a tough time and hes had a hard time in this stadium," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. Westbrook survived a bases-loaded jam in the second to stay close, but by then Liriano had all the support he would need. His only real mistake came in the sixth, when pinch-hitter Tony Cruz led off with a triple and scored on Carpenters single up the middle. A strikeout and a double play followed, and the Pirates broke it open in the seventh against relievers Marc Rzepczynski and Fernando Salas. Garrett Jones started it with Pittsburghs first sacrifice fly to the outfield since May 27 and Barmes clubbed a two-run double as the Pirates batted around. Even with its best offensive showing since the All-Star break, Hurdle isnt so sure the Pirates made a statement. "Were a confident team," he said. "I think were a team whose confidence isnt built on its last game. Its not shattered by a losing streak. You continue to push through and thats what weve done from Opening Day until now." NOTES: Pirates LF Starling Marte did not start after getting a planned day off in favour of Alex Presley, recalled from Triple-A on Monday after C Mike McKenry went onto the disabled list with a sprained knee. Marte entered in the seventh as a pinch hitter and singled. He is hitting just .131 (5 for 38) since July 20 ... The series continues with a doubleheader Tuesday. A.J. Burnett (4-7, 2.96 ERA) faces Lance Lynn (12-5, 3.98 ERA) in the opener with the Cardinals Tyler Lyons (2-3, 5.51) starting the second game. The Pirates will not name a starter for the second game until Tuesday morning. ... Lynn was originally supposed to start the second game, but Matheny moved him into the matchup against Burnett because he wanted a more experienced pitcher to take on Pittsburghs ace. ' ' '