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Senators halt skid, top Rangers

Nov 23, 2008 - 1:04 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The Ottawa Senators finally got the offensive outburst they needed to end a lengthy losing streak.

Four different players scored and Alex Auld made 18 saves as the Senators snapped a six-game losing streak with a 4-1 triumph over the New York Rangers on Saturday.

Ottawa avoided its longest losing streak in nearly a year, scoring four goals in a game for the first time in eight contests and just the fourth time this season.

Despite owning momentum for much of the first two periods and outshooting the Rangers, 28-12, over the opening 40 minutes, the Senators appeared to be heading into the second intermission with just a 1-0 lead thanks to Jason Spezza's power-play tally in the opening session.

"In this league, it's really important to score the first goal," Spezza said. "It puts the other team back on their heels. I think we were pretty resilient tonight, and regardless of what happened, we wanted to make sure we kept the pedal down and kept going at them."

But goals by rookie Jesse Winchester and captain Daniel Alfredsson 82 seconds apart late in the middle period ensured Ottawa its first win since a 4-1 triumph over Philadelphia on November 6.

"I thought the guys kept their energy high, which is important," Ottawa coach Craig Hartsburg said. "Like I said earlier this week, if we keep playing like this, we'll win our fair share. It was nice to see the players rewarded tonight."

Winchester took a pass from Antoine Vermette at his own blue line and skated down the left wing. He unleashed a backhander that deflected off goaltender Stephen Valiquette's right pad and into the net with 2:07 remaining, doubling the Senators' advantage to 2-0.

With Jarkko Ruutu in front, Alfredsson ripped a slap shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Valiquette to the stick side 45 seconds before intermission for a three-goal bulge.

"There was definitely interference on the third goal," Valiquette said. "If I had embellished it, there would have been a call. But I'm not going to do that. It would have been a lot easier for us to come back from two goals instead of three in the third period. The third goal was a turning point."

Auld was solid in net for the Senators, making six saves in each period to snap a personal five-game losing streak.

"We felt we'd played well enough to win the last couple of games," Auld said. "Obviously, to get rewarded with two points tonight is a great feeling."

After Markus Naslund's seventh goal of the season just 92 seconds into the third pulled the Rangers within 3-1, Nick Foligno regained the three-goal advantage for the Senators midway through the session with his fourth of the season.

Ruutu intercepted a clearing attempt along the left wing boards in the offensive zone and sent it toward the net. The puck deflected off the skate of Foligno at the top of the crease and past Valiquette.

"They brought a good forecheck tonight," New York coach Tom Renney said. "The bottom line is, we needed to compete harder than we did and we needed make some kind of physical statement on behalf of ourselves and generate some offense going to the net. We didn't do that tonight until the horse was well out of the barn."

Valiquette, who got the start in place of Henrik Lundqvist, turned aside 32 shots.