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OTTAWA - It took Patrick Lalime and the Ottawa Senators some time to get warmed up after a long layoff.

Lalime got off to a bad start Friday night, but his teammates had little trouble against Roman Cechmanek at the other end of the ice as the Senators beat Philadelphia 4-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

"We were probably a little rusty," Lalime said.

It was the Senators' first game in eight days since they eliminated the New York Islanders in five games.

"We thought maybe we could take advantage of their layoff, but in the second period they found their legs and it was as if we lost ours," Philadelphia center Keith Primeau said.

Lalime allowed goals on the first two shots by Philadelphia, but the Senators got quick goals from Marian Hossa and Martin Havlat to open the second period, and Daniel Alfredsson scored midway through the period on a power play as Ottawa won its fifth consecutive postseason game.

"Two shots, two goals - then we turned it around," Lalime said. "We haven't played in a while. We got the legs going."

Zdeno Chara also scored and added an assist for top-seeded Ottawa. Bryan Smolinski had a pair of assists for the Senators, who host Game 2 Sunday night.

After eliminating Toronto in a seventh game Tuesday night, fourth-seeded Philadelphia was looking to avenge its embarrassing series loss against the Senators a year ago. Lalime had three straight shutouts in that series, and Flyers scored just two goals.

Before the 11-minute mark Friday, Philadelphia had already matched its output, getting goals from Tony Amonte and Sami Kapanen. But the Flyers didn't beat Lalime again, and he finished with 23 saves.

At the other end of the ice, Cechmanek made just 13 saves as Ottawa rallied from a 2-0 deficit for the first time in its playoff history.

"They're an explosive team," said Jeremy Roenick, who assisted on both goals by the Flyers. "They got a couple of bounces and things shifted their way."

Lalime's toughest challenge the rest of the way came late in the game when Flyers center Claude Lapointe nailed him after he came out to play the puck during an Ottawa power play. Lalime was down on the ice for about two minutes, but continued with no problem. No penalty was called on the play.

"I didn't see the way did it," Lalime said. "It didn't feel that good, but it's part of the game."

Amonte opened the scoring on the first shot of the game, snapping the puck over Lalime's glove at 1:19. Kapanen then jumped on a loose puck in the slot to make it 2-0 at 10:48.

It took Ottawa, the NHL's third-highest scoring team during the regular season, almost eight minutes to get its first shot on Cechmanek. "We were getting the puck in their end, but we couldn't get to it," Alfredsson said.

When Ottawa returned for the second period, however, it was Cechmanek who allowed soft goals by Havlat and Hossa 2:59 apart to tie the game 5:33 in.

Havlat's shot from the slot was deflected on the way to the net, and Hossa managed to slip the rebound under the fallen goalie.

"Once we got the goal, we had the crowd on our side and the momentum," Hossa said.

With the Senators on the power play, Alfredsson scored on a wrist shot from the blue line that beat Cechmanek to the short side for a 3-2 lead.

Chara made it 4-2 late in the third on a disputed goal after he banked the puck off the goalie's skate. Play continued, but after a review, the puck was ruled to have crossed the goal line.

"He's just going to have to be better," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said of Cechmanek.

Canucks 4, Wild 3, OT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Matt Cooke tied the game with 1.2 seconds left in regulation, and Trent Klatt scored a power-play goal 3:42 into overtime as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in opener of their second-round series.

With Lubomir Sekeras off for high sticking Henrik Sedin, former University of Minnesota star Klatt planted himself in the crease and deflected Daniel Sedin's shot past Manny Fernandez.

Wes Walz broke a 1-1 tie with two goals - both on passes from Marian Gaborik - in the first 8:11 of the third period. But Markus Naslund's fifth goal in as many games pulled the Canucks within one midway through the period.

Cooke tied it after Todd Bertuzzi won a faceoff with 8.7 seconds left.

Naslund threw a long backhander on the net, and Cooke banged his first goal of the payoffs past Fernandez in the enduing scramble.

Game 2 is Sunday night in Vancouver.

Ed Jovanovski also scored for the Canucks, who have won four straight after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to knock St. Louis out in the first round.

Sergei Zholtok scored a power-play goal for the Wild, and from Fernandez made 34 saves. It was the third straight overtime game for the Wild, who won the last two to knock Colorado out of the first round.

Vancouver outshot Minnesota 35-20 in regulation, but much like a surprising first-round win over Colorado, the Wild got great goaltending, a solid defensive effort from everyone and a couple of timely goals.

Fernandez was sharp as the Wild absorbed some early Canucks pressure and Zholtok opened the scoring on Minnesota's third shot during a power-play scramble with 2:52 left in the first period.

Vancouver had a goal waved off just over a minute later after the puck was tipped behind Fernandez by a high stick. But Jovanovski tied it 1:33 into the second period on a play that had the Wild bench fuming.

Cliff Ronning hauled down Brendan Morrison on a short-handed break and the Canucks kept the puck alive on the delayed penalty. It eventually ended up Ronning's skates in the high slot after a long shot, but Morrison tied up Ronning's stick and prevented him from playing the puck.

Morrison then tapped it over to a streaking Jovanovksi in the slot and he put a one-timer behind Fernandez.

The Wild responded with a couple of great chances, but Nick Schultz hit the cross bar 17 seconds after the goal, and Richard Park sent one off the far post a couple of shifts later.

Minnesota got a break of its own at 7:15 when Morrison's shot from behind the net deflected off Fernandez and into the net. The goal light came on, but referee Dan Marouelli never signaled a goal.

A video review showed it roll along the line on edge, hit the inside of the net, and bounce back onto the goal line, but none of the angles showed conclusively that it completely crossed the line.

The Wild finished 1-for-2 on the power play.

• DUCKS-STARS They chugged water, munched energy bars and wondered when Game 1 would finish. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Dallas Stars began playing Thursday evening and hadn't settled anything when Friday began.

About half the original crowd of 18,532 was still in the American Airlines Center and they were doing their best to stay fresh, too. So during their seventh intermission, they did the wave.

Finally, 48 seconds into a fifth overtime, Anaheim's Petr Sykora smashed the puck by the stick of Dallas goaltender Marty Turco, ending the fourth-longest game in NHL history and by far the longest for either franchise.

The 4-3 victory in the opener of their second-round series brought more relief than joy. Sykora was glad to know his personal scoring drought was over and that his next meal wasn't going to be another Power Bar. "I couldn't take one more," Sykora said.

Before the final period, the public-address announcer said, "Good morning, Stars fans" as the team took the ice. They went back to the locker room for good at 12:32 a.m. - 5 hours, 52 minutes after the puck first dropped and 37 1/2 hours before the start of Game 2 today. When it ended, weary fans were silent for a few seconds, then they stood and applauded.

There was only one penalty in overtime, and that came during the first extra period.

Turco faced 54 shots, and Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere saw 63. Turco was busiest in regulation; Giguere was most active in the overtimes.

Rating the goalies like boxers, Turco won the first OT and Giguere took the second and third. The fourth was a draw as each made two superb stops in the final 1:45. Giguere was never near the puck in the brief final OT.

Anaheim appeared to have won it in the third OT, but a goal off the leg of Steve Thomas was disallowed because officials said the net came loose before the puck went in. It was decided by a video review that went all the way up to the league office in Toronto.

A few minutes later, the Mighty Ducks were saved when a shot by Stu Barnes hit the crossbar. Dallas fans were teased again in the fourth OT when a long shot from Philippe Boucher went in, but officials clearly already whistled offsides against the Stars.

Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov was the iron man among skaters, going 63:51. Teammate Mike Modano led forwards at 55:29 and tied for the most shots in the game with seven. Anaheim's top warriors were defenseman Keith Carney (56:20) and forward Rob Niedermayer (53:01).

The least-used player was Stars forward David Oliver. He was out there only 3:50 through two overtimes, then returned in the third OT - only to leave a minute later with a serious shoulder injury.

By then, when everyone was fatigued and afraid of making the game-ending mistake, the action was practically in slow motion.

"The more you go into overtime, the easier it is for the goalies," said Giguere, who blew a two-goal lead in regulation. "The shots aren't as hard and the speed isn't there."

For Anaheim, the victory continues a postseason run that's already been better than anything a Disney screenwriter might dream up.

It began with a triple-overtime victory against Detroit that led to a sweep of the second-seeded Red Wings, who also happened to be the defending Stanley Cup champions. Now the Mighty Ducks are 5-0 and have taken home-ice advantage from the top-seeded Stars.

"When you have 20 guys who believe in themselves, things like this will happen," Thomas said.

The Dallas players who were scratched from Game 1 were on the ice Friday, then joined everyone else for a brief meeting. Coach Dave Tippett said he was going to remind them they lost the first-round opener to Edmonton and came back to win in six, so there's no reason to let this loss linger.

"It counts as one in the standings," Tippett said. "In seven games, there's a lot of time left - even though this first game took a lot of time."

LONGEST PLAYOFF GAMES: Stanley Cup playoff games that have gone the longest, with date, score, round, time of overtime and game-winning goal:

• March 24, 1936 - Detroit 1, Montreal Maroons 0, semifinal, 116 minutes, 30 seconds, Mud Bruneteau.

• April 3, 1933 - Toronto 1, Boston 0, semifinal, 104:46, Ken Doraty.

• May 4, 2000 - Philadelphia 2, Pittsburgh 1, conference semifinal, 92:01, Keith Primeau.

• April 24, 2003 - Anaheim 4, Dallas 3, conference semifinal, 80:48, Petr Sykora.

• April 24, 1996 - Pittsburgh 3, Washington 2, conference quarterfinal, 79:15, Petr Nedved.