OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The drought has reached epic proportions.

The Philadelphia Flyers failed to score a regulation goal for the fifth consecutive playoff game and dropped a 3-0 decision to the Ottawa Senators, pushing them to the brink of elimination in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

The Flyers, who had few good scoring chances, have gone 316 minutes, 43 seconds without a postseason goal in regulation, shattering the previous mark of 277:44 set by the Boston Bruins from 1933-35.

The last playoff goal not scored in overtime by Philadelphia came off the stick of defenseman Chris Therien at 3:17 of the third period of Game Five of the 2001 conference quarterfinals against Buffalo.

"It's obviously frustrating, but I don't have an answer," Flyers center Adam Oates said. "Or sometimes that answer is there's a goaltender at the other end who can do no wrong. Tonight, moreso than any other, I thought he played his best and made some spectacular saves."

Patrick Lalime stopped 28 shots to become the fifth goaltender in postseason history and the second in as many nights to record three consecutive shutouts. St. Louis' Brent Johnson joined the elite club Tuesday.

"It's a team effort," Lalime said. "Give credit to them, you cannot do it yourself. But the most important thing is the win."

"That's the best I've seen him play, and it rubs off on everybody," Ottawa defenseman Zdeno Chara said. "I think this is the best I've seen this team play all year."

Clint Benedict of the 1926 Montreal Maroons, John Ross Roach of the 1929 New York Rangers and Frank McCool of the 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs also had three straight postseason shutouts.

"I don't know about the shutouts, but I think we were confident in ourselves," Lalime said. "We knew we could do the job. It's not that we didn't play well in the past, we just didn't get the bounce on our side, things like that. Now we have a lot of confidence. We've got three in the bank, but we need the fourth one to win it."

"Patrick's playing with confidence and challenging the puck," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson added. "And like all good goalies, he's getting some breaks right now."

Lalime, who lost his first five playoff decisions before reeling off this shutout streak, will have the chance to become the first goalie to register four shutouts in one playoff series on Friday, when the teams return to Philadelphia for Game Five.

"It will be the toughest one," Lalime said. "I think the fourth one's always the toughest one to win. We've got to approach it that way, get in there and keep playing the same way."

"We know this is not over, but we'll try on Friday night to win the series," Chara added. "It's going to take a little bit of discipline but with some bite. We'll take the hits and give some of our own, and we'll be ready to face what they throw at us."

Defensemen Wade Redden and Sami Salo and Marian Hossa scored for the Senators, who grabbed a three games to one lead in the best-of-seven series.

With time winding down in the first period, Alfredsson spotted Redden at the inside edge of the left faceoff circle. After receiving the pass, the second overall pick in the 1995 draft put the puck in the top left corner of the net with 20 seconds left to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.

"This feels really good," Alfredsson said. "I thought they came out hard in the first period, but that late goal was huge for us. And when that happens, you know things are going well."

"We started out very well," Philadelphia captain Keith Primeau said. "Both goaltenders made some great stops, but that goal late in the first period zapped our energy."

Redden's goal was the first of the series scored in the opening period.

Ottawa, which never had won three straight playoff games, struck twice in a 2:02 span of the second period to seal the Flyers' fate.

Standing behind the Philadelphia net, Shawn McEachern fed Salo high in the slot. The Finnish defenseman skated in and forced Roman Cechmanek to drop to the ice, then slid a backhander around the outstretched goalie at 6:06 for his second career postseason tally.

Hossa made it 3-0 at 8:08 by one-timing a pass from McEachern in the right circle for his second goal of the series.

Ottawa was held scoreless on eight power-play chances and is just 2-for-20 in the series.

"Our power play hasn't been working, but we've found other ways to score," Hossa said. "We have to stay patient, stay disciplined and stay calm."

Philadelphia's best chance to finally solve Lalime came with just under three minutes to play.

Primeau pounced on the rebound of a slap shot by Justin Williams just above the crease. With Lalime in a seated position, Primeau tried to backhand the puck into the net, but the Lalime blocked it with his stick.

The Flyers had a 77-second two-man advantage in the third period but could not muster much of an attack.

"With that 5-on-3, if they score, they still have a 5-on-4 and they're right back in it," Alfredsson said. "Killing that penalty was putting the nail in their coffin."

"As a group, we've got to find ways to get out of this funk," Flyers coach Bill Barber said. "We know we're still very capable of coming back in this series. Friday night is gut-check time."

Cechmanek, who was pulled after two periods, kept the Flyers in the game with several big saves in the first. Mike Fisher, who scored a breakaway goal in Game Two, tried to repeat the feat with 76 seconds left but was denied by a sprawling left leg save.

Ottawa thought they had a 1-0 lead at 8:01 of the first, but the goal was waved off after replay officials determined Hossa kicked the puck over Cechmanek's right shoulder from the top of the crease.

Philadelphia plans to come out determined in Game Five.

"The difference in this series so far has been great goaltending," Flyers center Jeremy Roenick said. "But this series is not over. There's still a lot of pain to be dished out. There's a long way to go and both teams know it. We feel down but not out. We have to come out hard again on Friday."

"We have to stay under control but play a high-energy game," Primeau added. "We have to maintain our system, play our style. If we can do that, we'll be back here (in Ottawa) on Sunday."

Alfredsson agreed it won't be easy.

"We know it's going to be a battle," he said. "And we know they're running out of time. We have to play our game and do what it takes to be successful."

The Senators, who finished three points behind Philadelphia, can advance to the conference semifinals for just the second time in team history. They upset top-seeded New Jersey in six games in 1998 before losing to eventual conference champion Washington in five games.

Lalime is 68:33 away from establishing the longest shutout streak in postseason history. Normie Smith of the Detroit Red Wings went 248:32 without allowing a goal in 1936. Winless in his last three regular-season starts, Lalime has turned away 110 of 111 shots in the series, allowing only an overtime backhander by Ruslan Fedotenko in Game One to elude him.

Philadelphia @ Ottawa Boxscore

SCORING SUMMARY THROUGH PERIODS:

	1ST	2ND	3RD	TOTAL
Philadelphia	0	0	0	0
Ottawa	1	2	0	3

FINAL

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Ottawa, Wade Redden 1 (Daniel Alfredsson, Benoit Brunet), 19:40. Penalties: J Williams, Phi (high sticking), 7:25; Z Chara, Ott (high sticking, ), 10:23.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Ottawa, Sami Salo 1 (Shawn Mceachern, Todd White), 6:06. 3, Ottawa, Marian Hossa 2 (Shawn Mceachern, Radek Bonk), 8:08. Penalties: J Roenick, Phi (holding), 0:50; C Therien, Phi (cross checking), 4:00; D Mcgillis, Phi (slashing), 13:20; J Roenick, Phi (charging), 18:19; M Havlat, Ott (goalie interference), 18:52.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: J Roenick, Phi (charging), 1:11; C Phillips, Ott (elbowing), 7:24; J Hull, Ott (slashing), 8:07; S Hnidy, Ott (slashing), 11:07; L Richardson, Phi (roughing), 13:35; C Phillips, Ott (tripping), 14:29; D Brashear, Phi (instigator, fighting major, misconduct), 17:15; J Roenick, Phi (roughing), 17:15; C Phillips, Ott (roughing), 17:15; T White, Ott (roughing), 17:15; K Primeau, Phi (goalie interference), 19:05; S Hnidy, Ott (roughing, ), 19:05.

SHOTS ON GOAL:

	1ST	2ND	3RD	TOTAL
Philadelphia	10	4	14	28
Ottawa	7	12	6	25

Power-play Conversions: PHI - 0 of 7, OTT - 0 of 8.
Goalies : Philadelphia, Roman Cechmanek (19 shots, 16 saves; record: 1-3-0), Brian Boucher (start of 3rd period, 6, 6). Ottawa, Patrick Lalime (28 shots, 28 saves; record: 3-1-0).
Attendance: 18,500.
Referees: Bill Mccreary, Rob Shick.
Linesmen: Ray Scapinello, Stephane Provost.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS

Philadelphia Player Goals Assists +/- Shots J LeClair 0 0 -1 0 S Gagne 0 0 even 2 J Williams 0 0 -1 2 P Ranheim 0 0 -2 0 E Weinrich 0 0 -1 2 L Richardson 0 0 -1 2 K Primeau 0 0 -1 1 R Fedotenko 0 0 even 4 D Mcgillis 0 0 -1 5 E Desjardins 0 0 even 1 M Murray 0 0 -2 0 J Slaney 0 0 -1 1 K Johnsson 0 0 -2 1 P Brendl 0 0 even 2 C Therien 0 0 -1 0 A Oates 0 0 -1 0 D Brashear 0 0 even 0 J Roenick 0 0 even 5 Scratches: R Tocchet - Back Injury M Recchi - Concussion C Mcallister - Wrist Injury T Fedoruk - Healthy J Dopita - Knee Injury

Ottawa Player Goals Assists +/- Shots D Alfredsson 0 1 +1 4 M Fisher 0 0 even 1 R Bonk 0 1 +1 1 S Mceachern 0 2 +2 0 J Hull 0 0 even 0 M Hossa 1 0 +1 6 M Arvedson 0 0 even 1 C Neil 0 0 even 0 B Brunet 0 1 +2 0 T White 0 1 +2 2 Z Chara 0 0 +1 2 S Hnidy 0 0 even 0 Ylonen 0 0 even 0 C Phillips 0 0 +2 2 S Salo 1 0 +2 4 W Redden 1 0 +1 1 C Leschyshyn 0 0 even 0 M Havlat 0 0 even 1 Scratches: R Persson - Healthy C Herperger - Healthy B Muckalt - Healthy

Recap & Boxscore from Slam! Hockey @ Canoe.ca