In the off-season,
Eugene Melnyk would purchase the club to bring financial stability. The
2003-04 season would see the Ottawa Senators again finish with over 100 points, finishing with 102, but this was good for only third in the tightly-contested division, as the Bruins would have 104 and the Leafs 103. Marian Hossa lead the club in scoring with 82 points, good enough for sixth overall in the league, which had become low-scoring.
On
March 5 ,
2004 , in a game against the
Philadelphia Flyers , a record was set for the most penalty minutes in a game by both teams at 419 minutes. Five brawls broke out in the last two minutes of the game. It took the officials until 90 minutes after the game was over to sort out the penalties. By the end of the game Philadelphia had 213 penalty minutes and seven men left on the bench, while Ottawa finished with 203 penalty minutes and six men left.
In the first round of the
2004 playoffs, the Senators would lose again to the Maple Leafs for the fourth straight time. By now, Ottawa had developed a strong rivalry with their
Ontario cousins and there was a great deal of pressure on the team to finally defeat the Leafs. Two days after the Senators' loss, coach
Jacques Martin was fired, and goaltender
Patrick Lalime was later traded to the
St. Louis Blues .
Mr. Martin had been coach of the Senators for eight and a half years. He was well respected, earned a 341-255-96 regular season record with the Senators, had led the team to eight consecutive playoff appearances, and was widely credited with changing the team into a league leader. He also won the
Jack Adams Trophy in 1999. However, after losing eight of twelve playoff series, including all four series in five years versus the Leafs, team management felt that a new coach was required for playoff success. On
June 8 ,
2004 ,
Bryan Murray of local town Shawville, Quebec, became the team's fifth head coach, leaving the
Anaheim Mighty Ducks where he had been general manager.
''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes''
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''Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Against;
SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average''
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http://wwwnhlcom/nhlstats/appfetchKey=20033OTTGAGAll&page=Stats&service=page&sort=playerproperName&viewName=wlt
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