Feb 23, 2008 6:51 pm US/Eastern
Senators 4, Penguins 3 - Overtime
PITTSBURGH (AP) ―
Daniel Alfredsson scored on a backhander with 3.2 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Ottawa Senators, at risk of falling out of the Eastern Conference lead for the first time this season, rallied from three goals down to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 Saturday.
Alfredsson scored the winner on Ottawa's final rush of overtime, not long after Pittsburgh's Ryan Malone put a shot off the right post and goalie Ray Emery barely got his glove on Sergei Gonchar's hard slap shot from the high slot.
Ty Conklin stopped Alfredsson's initial shot, but the puck rebounded back to the Senators captain and, after cutting across the slot, he put a shot past Conklin to the short side for his 35th goal.
Dany Heatley scored twice to key the comeback after coach John Paddock broke up the Senators' top line of Heatley, Alfredsson and Jason Spezza at the start, though they were together at times later in the game.
Spezza assisted on Heatley's second goal, which tied it at 3 about six minutes into the third.
NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin's 10-game scoring streak was halted, as was Pittsburgh's three-game winning streak.
The comeback was reminiscent of Pittsburgh's 6-5 Thanksgiving night win in Ottawa in which the Penguins twice rallied from two-goal deficits - a comeback win that may have turned the Penguins' season around following an 8-11-2 start.
The Senators, who won 13 of their first 14 games, have never fallen out of the conference lead this season but were in danger of being passed by Atlantic Division leader New Jersey and Pittsburgh on the same day.
The Devils, who now trail Ottawa 78-77 in the conference, beat the New York Islanders 4-2 earlier Saturday to take a one-point lead over Pittsburgh in the division race.
With goalie Ray Emery looking shaky early on - Paddock chose not to start backup Martin Gerber - the Penguins opened a 3-0 lead despite scoring only once on the game's first six power plays.
Ottawa's only power play chance came in the third period.
Pittsburgh, trying for its fourth win in a row, got off to the good start it wanted at home when Petr Sykora's slap shot from the top of the left circle eluded Emery only 1:47 into the game, with the Penguins already on the first of their three power plays in the opening five minutes.
Colby Armstrong and Jeff Taffe also scored for Pittsburgh, but a frustrated Malkin - who had 30 points as Pittsburgh went 9-4-2 in its first 15 games without the injured Sidney Crosby - broke his stick in frustration after failing to convert three excellent scoring chances on a single shift during the second period.
After weathering all the Penguins' power plays, the Senators finally found their offense after being limited to 10 goals in their previous five games as Cory Stillman and Heatley scored less than five minutes apart later in the second.
Heatley's 30th goal, and his ninth in his last seven games against Pittsburgh, came on a shot from in front after defenseman Rob Scuderi left him to try to make a play behind the net and tied it at 3.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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