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Heatley stars as Senators crush Lightning

Mar 25, 2007 - 5:08 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- With the playoffs just around the corner, Dany Heatley and the Ottawa Senators are warming up at just the right time.

Heatley recorded his 11th multi-goal game of the season and added an assist as the Senators posted their sixth win in seven contests, a 7-2 triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Defensemen Joe Corvo and Christoph Schubert each had a goal and two assists for Ottawa (45-23-8), which closed within five points of Buffalo (48-20-7) for first place in both the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference with six games remaining.

"Tonight, we had 10 or 11 odd-man rushes because of good puck movement," Senators coach Bryan Murray said. "That's a real compliment to the guys buying in and working the right way now."

Lightning blue-liner Dan Boyle capped his third multi-goal performance of the campaign three minutes into the second to forge a 2-2 tie. But Heatley began and finished a spurt of five straight tallies by the Senators, who have earned at least one point in each of their last 11 games (7-0-4).

"We played well," Senators goaltender Ray Emery said. "It was pretty close until the third, and then we broke it open. We're playing good hockey."

With 7:19 to go in the middle session, Corvo rifled a shot from the blue line that Heatley redirected past goaltender Marc Denis to give Ottawa a 3-2 lead. The former Calder Trophy winner completed the outburst with 8:14 remaining in the third, scoring his 45th goal of the season to pull within four of Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier for the league lead.

"We're just going to keep shooting," Heatley said. "We had some more chances tonight. We received a lot of scoring from a lot of different people."

Captain Daniel Alfredsson, Patrick Eaves and Dean McAmmond each had a goal and an assist for the Senators, who can clinch a playoff spot with a regulation loss by the New York Islanders on Sunday.

Lecavalier registered two assists for the first 100-point season of his eight-year career for Tampa Bay (41-31-4), which squandered a chance to pull even with Atlanta (39-27-10) atop the Southeast Division.

"In the second period, we had some turnovers," Lightning center Brad Richards said. "We also had penalties which led to a goal. We talked before the game that we couldn't turn the puck over against this team, and it showed."

Richards was, however, relieved Tampa Bay did not lose ground in the divisional race.

"At the start of the week, we were six points out of the division, and now we're at two," he said. "So overall, you can look at it as a good week. It doesn't feel good to lose like this, but we're in good position to win our division and have the third seed."

Denis allowed five goals on 23 shots before giving way to Karri Ramo, who stopped three of the five shots he faced for the Lightning, who have lost nine of their last 11 meetings with the Senators.

"We're going to get away from hockey tomorrow," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. "Then we're going to have a good practice Monday and start our next week. I think if we go 5-2 at home and split on the road, we have a real good opportunity to be somewhere we want to be at the end of April."