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Fisher tallies twice as Senators win sixth straight

Nov 4, 2007 - 2:32 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Mike Fisher was not about to let the Ottawa Senators' winning streak come to an end.

Fisher scored a pair of power-play goals, including the winner with 6:11 remaining in the third period, as the Senators posted their sixth straight win, a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

Defenseman Joe Corvo collected three assists and Dany Heatley netted a goal and set up another for the Senators, who improved to 11-0-0 when scoring first.

With the game even at 2-2 and Boston's Marc Savard serving a hooking penalty, Corvo took a shot from low in the right faceoff circle that was stopped by goaltender Tim Thomas. The rebound came out to Fisher, who buried it from the doorstep at 13:49 for a one-goal lead.

"We got off to a good start and then we seemed to waver a little bit in the second with turnovers," Fisher said. "Into the third, we turned it around again. We all know that the third is our best period, and we were able to roll all four lines and keep our legs under us. We were confident we could get the one we needed to win it."

The tally stood up as Martin Gerber turned aside all eight shots he faced in the final session to secure the triumph.

"It's tough to lose a game, especially when it's that close and you're almost going into overtime," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "It's too bad. We could've gotten a point, and anything can happen in overtime."

The Senators took advantage of their first power-play opportunity 4:16 into the game, when Fisher collected a rebound and jabbed the puck over a sprawled Thomas. Fisher's fourth goal of the season and 200th career point gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead.

"We did a good job of chipping it in and getting behind them, using our speed, and that's what we have to do," Fisher said. "I thought we did a good job of driving wide and creating things that way, too."

Chuck Kobasew took advantage of a flat Senators team in the second period, scoring a pair of goals in the first five minutes to put the Bruins ahead, 2-1.

Former Senators defenseman Chara dumped the puck into the right corner and retrieved it himself before dishing it behind the net. Kobasew grabbed it and put it past Gerber at the left goalpost 64 seconds into the period to forge a tie.

Less than four minutes later, Kobasew staked Boston to a one-goal lead, burying a bouncing rebound after Gerber made a save on Marco Sturm. The puck popped high into the air, and Kobasew beat the goalie to the stick side from the slot at 4:50.

With Sturm in the penalty box for hooking, the Senators scored their second power-play goal of the night midway through the second to knot the contest.

Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden zipped a pass from along the left wing boards to Heatley, who fired a one-timer past Thomas at 10:44 for his eighth of the season. Heatley tallied six times against the Bruins last campaign.

"Obviously, we had a lot of shots, and Thomas was great again," Heatley said. "He always seems to play well against us, so against a guy like that, we've got to keep shooting the puck and generating chances, and sooner or later, they'll go in."

Thomas made 42 saves in a losing effort for Boston, which had won two of three.

"Tim was spectacular," said Bruins coach Claude Julien, who was behind the bench for the 250th time in his career. "He's the reason we were in the game right until the end. He kept us in there, and there's no doubt he was a key player for us tonight."

"Thomas was very good," Senators coach John Paddock said. "But he's always good against us, and I'm sure he'll be good against tomorrow night in Boston."

The game was the opener of a home-and-home series, and both teams seemed intent on sending messages throughout this contest. Boston left wing Shawn Thornton and Ottawa right wing Brian McGrattan fought early in the game, and the hard hitting continued throughout.

Defensemen Dennis Wideman of the Bruins and Andrej Meszaros of the Senators also were involved in an altercation as the final buzzer sounded.

"It's a divisional game and both teams want to win those games," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "At the end, yeah, it's probably because we play again tomorrow. Otherwise, it wouldn't happen like that."

"Emotions were running high at the end," Julien said. "That's probably some frustration on our part. We didn't get any breaks in the penalty department, so we might have been frustrated."

The teams meet again Sunday at the TD Banknorth Garden.