When the Ottawa Senators travel to East Rutherford, N.J., to begin the Eastern Conference semifinal on Thursday night (CBC, 7 p.m. ET), they'll quickly learn one important fact: The New Jersey Devils are not the Pittsburgh Penguins.

That much was evident after the Senators easily disposed of the Penguins in five games during their opening-round series.

Goaltender Ray Emery will need to be at his best if the Senators hope to get past the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference semifinal.
(Harry How/Getty Images)

While the young and explosive Penguins attempted to slow down Ottawa with some tight checking, they can in no way be compared with New Jersey when it comes to defence.

"It won't be quite as open, although, going into the actual games, I don't think Pittsburgh was as open as we thought they were going to be. They tried to play real good defence, too," Senators coach Bryan Murray said a day after the Devils ousted the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games to set up the matchup with Ottawa.

"So we understand the way we attack will be a little different and the goaltending will not very likely give up a lot of goals — bad goals, anyway — so we have to find a different way to get them."

Ottawa caught a break before Thursday's game when the Devils announced captain Patrik Elias will not play in the series opener. New Jersey's leading scorer in the regular season, Elias has been bothered by a lingering cold.

But the Senators will still have to face all-world goalie Martin Brodeur, who will no doubt present a major obstacle for Ottawa's high-powered offence.

The 34-year-old veteran wasn't even at his best during the early part of the Tampa Bay series, yet the Devils prevailed.

Rare soft goals

In Games 2 and 3, Brodeur uncharacteristically gave up soft goals, which led to Tampa Bay victories. However, he quickly responded to his critics' claim that his play had slipped.

Brodeur allowed just four goals in the final three games of the series, including a shutout in Game 5. He also owns 93 career playoff victories and sits behind only Hall of Famer Patrick Roy (151) on the all-time playoff list.

"One thing New Jersey does is they play their game and their game is defence first," Murray marvelled. "Position is really important to that and goaltending is really important to that, and that's what you see over a long time. Night to night, there's not the inconsistencies that you see in some teams."

In addition, the Devils have two balanced scoring lines that eventually wore down the Lightning as the series progressed. The now popular EGG Line of Elias, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta has been dominant for New Jersey, posting a combined 22 points in six games.

Zach Parise and Langenbrunner have added more scoring depth for the Devils. Parise leads the post-season with six goals, while Langenbrunner has chipped in with five points.

Slide in production

"The Gomez line and the Parise line can score goals, the [John] Madden line can, too," said Senators centre Jason Spezza, who, along with linemates Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson, saw his offensive production drop because of the defensive responsibilities against Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby.

"It depends on how we play, but obviously we're going to expect to put the puck in offensively."

For the Senators to advance past New Jersey, they will need Ray Emery to continue his solid goaltending. The Ontario native, 24, allowed 10 goals in five games with a .909 save percentage against Pittsburgh.

Offensive production is another area that must remain strong for Ottawa. Sixteen of 19 players recorded at least a point during the Penguins series, but only Alfredsson (six points) appears on the top-25 playoff-scoring list.

"Our play is going to have to be even better than last series to be there," Senators defenceman Wade Redden said. "We've got to play real smart and real aggressive. All four lines are going to have to be going for us again."

With files form the Canadian Press