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Heatley scores again as Senators top Flyers

Nov 7, 2008 - 4:32 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- When Dany Heatley scores, good things happen for the Ottawa Senators.

Heatley scored for the fifth straight game and Alex Auld made 17 saves as the Senators posted a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

Defenseman Anton Volchenkov and Chris Neil also scored and Jesse Winchester recorded his first career goal and added an assist for Ottawa, which has won four of its last five.

"I don't know if it was one of our best, but it was certainly a good outing for us," Senators coach Craig Hartsburg said. "I'd like to see us continue on with some of the things we did well tonight. If we can do that, we'll give ourselves a chance to win every night."

The five-game goal-scoring streak is one shy of Heatley's career high. The left wing scored in six consecutive contests from February 20-March 2, 2007.

Ottawa is 6-0-2 in games in which Heatley has scored this season.

"These last five games as a whole, the team has played really well and I've felt good out there," Heatley said. "It's obviously nice to be able to score and contribute to these wins. When things are going good, you don't ask why sometimes. Hopefully, we can keep it going here for a while."

The Senators controlled the first period, outshooting the Flyers, 12-3, while taking an early two-goal lead.

Volchenkov opened the scoring at 8:49. Mike Fisher's centering pass from behind the net deflected right to the defenseman at the top of the right faceoff circle, and Volchenkov's slap shot beat goaltender Antero Niittymaki high to the stick side for a 1-0 edge.

"We started out slowly," Flyers captain Mike Richards said. "Niittymaki made the saves to keep us in the game, but it looked like we were a little reluctant to do the things we needed to do off the bat. Once we started to chip pucks in deep and play with some composure and communicate with each other, we started having a little more success. But it took too long to figure out, and they cushioned their lead."

Less than three minutes later, Heatley doubled the advantage on the power play as Jason Spezza fed him at the top of the crease, where he beat Niittymaki between the pads. The goal came 32 seconds after Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn was sent to the box for a five-minute boarding penalty.

"Getting that power-play goal was huge for us," Heatley said. "When you have five minutes like that, you want to make sure you get at least one. If you don't score, you might give the other team some momentum, so getting one for sure was big."

Arron Asham halved the deficit with a wrist shot at 7:18 of the second period, but Winchester gave the Senators a 3-1 lead just 56 seconds later. Winchester received a centering pass from captain Daniel Alfredsson in front of the net and put a backhander between the pads of Niittymaki.

Neil added an empty-netter with 1:41 remaining to provide the final margin.

"You've got to give them credit," Philadelphia coach John Stevens said. "They played a sound hockey game, but we've got to show more patience from start to finish and keep these games close early so we're not playing catch-up all night."

Philadelphia, which failed to score on all three of its power-play opportunities in the third period, dropped its second straight game following a four-game winning streak.

"I think we did a great job on the forecheck," said Hartsburg, a former assistant coach with the Flyers. "People don't really think of that as a defensive part of the game, but when you do it well, you put pressure on the other team and make them play in their own end. That's a great way to play defense, and I think that was a strong part of our game tonight."

Niittymaki stopped 21 shots for the Flyers.