 Ray Emery took over the starting goaltender duties; he became the first rookie netminder since Philadelphia's Brian Boucher in 2000 to win a playoff series when the Senators defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, four games to one.The Senators were then defeated by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round, four games to one.After the playoff loss, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk comforted fans in an open letter by saying that their team would not only win the Stanley Cup in the future but, once they had it, they would, he boasted, "hoard" it year after year.