• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Alfredsson's seven-point night fuels Senators

Jan 25, 2008 - 5:02 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Daniel Alfredsson did it all for the Ottawa Senators.

The captain posted his sixth career hat trick and set a career high with a team record seven points as the Senators doubled up the Tampa Bay Lightning, 8-4, on Thursday.

Jason Spezza scored twice and set up another and Randy Robitaille had a goal and two assist for Ottawa, which ended a three-game losing streak.

"I guess sometimes it doesn't always go that smooth, but (Daniel) makes a big difference wherever he is in the lineup," Senators coach John Paddock said. "You just can't say enough about him from the last half of the year, especially from the playoffs through this part of the season."

Antoine Vermette and Dean McAmmond also tallied for the Senators.

Alfredsson, who returned to action on Tuesday after missing two games due to a hip injury, used a variety of ways to score to help put this one away early.

"We wanted to put our best effort out there and I think we did," Alfredsson said. "We skated well from the beginning, I think we dictated the play and the shot clock showed that as well. So, a great overall effort from us."

The five-time All-Star scored initially with 6:17 left in the first period when he ripped a wrister from the top of the left faceoff circle past Johan Holmqvist to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.

Just 29 seconds later, Spezza blasted a shot from the top of the slot past Holmqvist and off the right post and into the net.

Alfredsson collected his eighth multi-goal game of the season late in the first period.

With the Senators on a 5-on-3 power play, the 35-year-old skated in and blasted a 56-footer past Holmqvist to increase the lead to 3-0.

Alfredsson scored a shorthander when Mike Fisher stole the puck in the neutral zone before feeding Alfredsson, who beat backup netminder Karri Ramo for a 4-0 bulge 4:38 into the middle period. It was the 12-year veteran's first hat trick since tallying a career-high four goals against the Buffalo Sabres on November 2, 2005.

"Well, he's one of the best players in the league with the puck," Lightning right wing Andre Roy said. "He's a good stick-handler and I think when he's in the lineup, their team plays with more confidence. He was a good leader tonight."

Alfredsson assisted on Vermette's goal midway through the second, helped on another by Robitaille at 1:39 into the third and fed Spezza for his second goal with 3:27 left in the third for his career-high seventh point of the game. His previous best was six in the aforementioned game against the Sabres.

"It's nice," Alfredsson said. "We wanted to have a good effort. This was the biggest thing for us. We feel our play hasn't been up to our level, and it's going to be important for us after the break to kind of elevate our game a little bit. Tonight was a good start."

It was also Spezza's fourth two-goal game of the season.

Martin Gerber stopped 21 shots for the Senators, who posted their highest scoring game of the season.

"You could see Alfredsson was on fire," Gerber said. "It was fun to watch, for sure."

Defenseman Dan Boyle scored twice, Nick Tarnasky had a goal and an assist and Craig MacDonald also tallied for Tampa Bay, which saw its three-game winning streak end.

Holmqvist, who was pulled before the start of the second period, stopped 11 of 14 shots while Ramo made seven saves for the Lightning.

Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella refused to talk about the game afterward, only offering the following explanation: "I'm here, but you're going to have to write your own story because I'm not going to take any questions. You guys do your own thing with your story."

Tortorella then walked out of the room.