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Third-period outburst lifts Senators past Hurricanes

Feb 28, 2007 - 4:58 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- A pair of goals from unlikely sources kept the Ottawa Senators on a tear.

Defensemen Wade Redden and Anton Volchenkov scored third-period goals to rally the Senators to a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in the first of a home-and-home series.

Jason Spezza capped off the three-goal outburst in the final session with an empty-net tally as Ottawa won for the seventh time in eight games. He also had a pair of assists.

"We have been ragging on (the defensemen) - not Volchenkov, we don't expect him to score a lot of goals and he doesn't," Ottawa coach Bryan Murray said. "It was a big one tonight. Redden, I thought really played a strong game. He moved his feet, made some real good passes. This is a good defensive team we played against tonight, not a lot of holes out there."

Redden supplied the go-ahead goal with 4:48 to play, beating goaltender John Grahame with just his sixth tally of the season.

"We were buzzing right there off the bat (in the third period)," Redden said. "That set the tone for us and we kept going. We got the goals and we played well."

Volchenkov's contribution was even more unexpected. The league leader in blocked shots, he scored his first goal in over a calendar year, a span of 85 games.

Taking a cross-ice pass from Chris Phillips at the right point, Volchenkov unleashed a blast from just inside the blue line that beat Grahame to the glove side and tied it midway through the third.

"That's the first goal I've had and I've broken 20 sticks," Volchenkov said. "I broke one in the second period. The last game, broken stick.

"Nobody touched it. Nobody tried to block it."

Ottawa's defensemen have been responsible for 164 points, tops in the NHL.

The Senators dominated throughout, outshooting the Hurricanes, 35-24, but suffered a hiccup in the middle session when Carolina's Eric Staal and Josef Vasicek scored 19 seconds apart for a 2-1 lead.

Staal's goal was his 26th of the season and 11th on the power play. Vasicek struck again seconds later, tucking a rebound of Mike Commodore's blast between the pads of goaltender Martin Gerber.

"We needed the win and we didn't get it done," Staal said. "We were leading going into the third period where you want to be and it got away from us. We need to win games when we're up going to the third period. It didn't happen tonight."

Dany Heatley scored his 37th goal at 5:08 of the second period for the Senators, who were 0-for-2 on the power play.

"We are just flat," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "I mean, we are sleeping. We got outskated. You're not going to win games like that."

A former Hurricane Martin Gerber made 22 saves.