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Heatley's hat trick helps Senators down Bruins

Mar 12, 2008 - 3:42 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- All-Star Dany Heatley and the Ottawa Senators are heating up at the right time.

Heatley recorded his seventh career hat trick and set up another goal to lead the Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

Ottawa (39-25-7), which has won two straight, remained two points behind Montreal (39-23-9) for first place in the Northeast Division - and the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens posted a 4-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

"We've tried to keep the game a little simpler and just try to shoot the puck," Heatley said. "It's good to see them going in the net and nice to be able to score some goals to help win a hockey game, especially right now."

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros set up a pair of tallies and All-Star Jason Spezza notched a goal and an assist for the Senators, who play nine of their last 11 games against divisional opponents.

"We know we have our destiny in our hands," Spezza said. "We have nine more games against teams in our division, so we can pretty much set the table for where we're going to finish and whether we'll have home ice or not. It's a fun time of year."

Martin Gerber, who started his six straight game, stopped 28 shots but had his bid for his second shutout of season denied when defenseman Dennis Wideman scored off a rebound with 2:26 to play in the third period.

"I was happy with my game tonight and I was happy to see the way the guys battled and scored some big goals," Gerber said. "It's a little disappointing not to get the shutout, but this is a huge win, and that's the most important thing."

The Senators, who snapped a two-game skid on Saturday, will take some momentum into Thursday's huge showdown with the Canadiens in Montreal.

Meanwhile, Boston (36-26-8) fell to 1-3-2 in its last six games and five points behind Ottawa in the division. The Bruins also saw their lead over Philadelphia (35-26-9) for seventh place in the East reduced to one, as the Flyers earned a point in an overtime loss to Toronto.

"This time of year, every game is huge, no matter who you're playing," Bruins All-Star center Marc Savard said. "We need every point we can get, and we know we're going to have to battle every night. We had our chances here, but (Gerber) came up big, and he was probably the difference."

Ottawa did not seem to suffer offensively despite playing without captain Daniel Alfredsson (back) for a fourth straight game.

Heatley opened the scoring at 5:44 of the second period with his 33rd of the season and made it 2-0 at 11:05 with a power-play goal. The star capped his hat trick with an empty-netter with 36 seconds remaining in the third.

"Getting the hat trick is nice," Heatley said. "But it wouldn't mean anything without the win."

A huge momentum swing allowed the Senators to take a 3-0 lead late in the second, as Spezza notched his 28th goal of the season during a man advantage with 2:42 left in the period.

Prior to Spezza's tally, Boston had a 2-on-1 rush while shorthanded. However, Phil Kessel was denied by Gerber and the Senators quickly went the other way to score.

After a flurry of action and several rebounds allowed by Alex Auld, the puck sat at the top of the crease, where Spezza was able to send a backhander past the sprawled netminder.

"Gerber was great," Spezza said. "He gave us a chance to win that game. There were a couple of big swings where he makes a key save, we go down and score, and a lot of times, that's the difference in a hockey game."

Auld stopped 22 shots for the Bruins, who were without captain Zdeno Chara for a second straight game due to an upper body injury.