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Heatley, Senators roll to fifth straight win

Dec 16, 2007 - 4:57 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The Ottawa Senators have got their groove back.

Dany Heatley scored twice and Jason Spezza notched a pair of assists as the Senators posted a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored a pair of goals to add to his league-leading total, but it was enough for Atlanta, which has been outscored, 22-8, during its four-game skid.

Meanwhile, the high-scoring Senators have followed a seven-game slide by winning five straight. Ottawa, which leads the Eastern Conference with 109 goals, scored early and often.

"We jumped out to that early lead, and even when they drew to within one in the first period, we were able to step on the gas again and get it going," Spezza said. "Penalty trouble made it closer than it was, and they're a team that doesn't give up, so we knew we had to battle right through to the finish."

Defensemen Joe Corvo and Andrej Meszaros teamed with Heatley to score three straight goals and break open a 2-1 game, and the Senators proceeded to hold off a comeback attempt by the Thrashers.

"We were ready to go from the get-go, but we gave them some chances to get back in the game," Heatley said. "Our penalty-killers came through when we needed them, and that made a big difference."

Eric Perrin cut the deficit to 5-2 with a tally with 4:11 left in the second period, and Kovalchuk fired a slap shot from the left faceoff circle past goaltender Martin Gerber at 8:39 of the third to bring Atlanta within two.

The Thrashers then had a two-man advantage and unleashed several shots while trying to get closer.

However, the Senators successfully killed the penalties before forcing a turnover. Heatley and Corvo exited of the penalty box to create a 2-on-1 rush, which culminated with Heatley firing a wrist shot past netminder Johan Hedberg to make it 6-3 with 5:16 to play.

"With the guys we put out there on that 5-on-3, you expect to score one," Atlanta coach Don Waddell said. "But they did a great job of killing it off, and as soon as it's over, they come down and score. That put the icing on the cake."

"I was joking with Alfie (Daniel Alfredsson), if they score on that 5-on-3 and tie it up, I'm the goat," Heatley said. "So it was nice to score that goal."

Antoine Vermette capped the win with a tally in the final minute.

"I think when we had the lead, we got sort of casual," Ottawa coach John Paddock said. "They were a little bit down because they played last night, and they were facing a big deficit, so they didn't look like they had a lot of life to come back."

Ottawa jumped all over Atlanta from the start. Rookie Nick Foligno scored the game's first goal just 2 1/2 minutes into the opening period and Chris Kelly doubled the lead when he put back a rebound at 10:15.

Kovalchuk, who leads the league with 26 goals, answered just 11 seconds later, when he fired a wrist shot from the top of the left circle into the top right corner of the net.

But the Senators exploded for three consecutive tallies to break open the game.

Meszaros' power-play goal with 5:16 left in the second made it 3-1. Corvo and Heatley then scored seven minutes apart in the second to stretch the lead to 5-1 and chase Hedberg.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 18 shots in relief for Atlanta, which was 1-for-6 on the power play. Gerber stopped 22 shots for Ottawa, which went 1-for-5 with the man advantage.