EASTERN FINALS Burns ignites Devils, citing turnovers that led to Senators' win

Ottawa looks to grab a 2-0 series lead at home tonight.
OTTAWA (AP) -- Pat Burns knows the Ottawa Senators are a good hockey team. The New Jersey coach just wishes his Devils would stop making them look even better.
Citing 25 turnovers -- some of which he called blatant -- the Devils committed in losing Game 1 to the Senators in the Eastern Conference finals, Burns offered up an easy solution for his team's troubles.
"If they're going to get the puck, then they're either going to take it away from us or bump us off it," Burns said Monday. "But we can't give it to them."
Game 2 of the series is at Ottawa tonight.
If the Devils intend to respond, they're going to have to play more responsibly than in Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss, in which all three of Ottawa's goals came as a result of turnovers or second chances.
"We can't make mistakes," Devils forward John Madden said. "When we do, they seem to capitalize. We have to play a near-perfect game."
Defense leaders
It's an imposing challenge, even for the defensive-minded Devils, who allowed 166 goals, tying Philadelphia for the fewest in the regular season.
The Senators, in comparison, finished with the NHL's best record, featuring a defense that ranked third in allowing 182 goals, and an offense that ranked fifth with 263 goals.
Offensively, Ottawa possesses the league's most balanced attack, led by the creative right-wing corps of Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa and Martin Havlat. That trio is spread across the team's top three lines, making it difficult for opponents to contain all of them, as the Devils found out in Game 1.
While Hossa and Alfredsson were held off the score sheet, Havlat set up Shaun Van Allen's winning goal. The other two goals came from first-line center Todd White and fourth-line winger Chris Neil.
Depth
Bryan Smolinski was immediately struck by Ottawa's depth when the Senators acquired him from Los Angeles in March.
"Looking on the outside in, it's sickening how young they are and how everyone wants to score," Smolinski said. "You can throw the ball up in the air and pick four lines. It's sick the depth that we have."
What makes the Senators even more difficult to beat is how well they play defensively. Ottawa, as a team, and goalie Patrick Lalime, individually, set NHL playoff records Saturday in allowing two or fewer goals in 11 consecutive games.
The Devils are confident that the Senators are vulnerable, noting how they rallied from a two-goal deficit to force overtime.
"I think once we started to take the attack to them, I think we started to turn the game around," Joe Nieuwendyk said. "It would've been nice to finish it off in the third, but you have to try and find the positives, and we will build on that."