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Auld, Heatley lead charge as Senators defeat Hurricanes

Feb 25, 2009 - 5:21 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- In the wake of rookie goaltender Brian Elliott's emergence, the opportunities had been few and far between for Alex Auld. With his latest strong effort, though, Auld is slowly reclaiming his starting job for the Ottawa Senators.

Auld made 41 saves and All-Star Dany Heatley was one of four different goal scorers Tuesday as the Senators posted a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Chris Kelly, newly acquired Mike Comrie and Jason Spezza each tallied while captain Daniel Alfredsson and Antoine Vermette notched two assists apiece for Ottawa, which snapped a three-game skid.

"Each game creates its own challenges," Senators interim coach Cory Clouston said. "We built the lead and had to protect it tonight. The last couple of games, it has been the opposite."

Patrick Eaves and blue-liner Anton Babchuk netted goals for the Hurricanes, who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.

"Well, we got beat, that's it," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "I don't know if you want more, because I don't have much more.

"We outshot them by a ton, we gave up four goals on 11 shots and gave up some bad chances. I didn't think they were that good."

Auld has started five of Ottawa's last six games, during which it has gone 3-1-1 with him in goal. Prior to his current stretch, Auld watched Elliott start 12 of the team's previous 14.

"(Auld) played well tonight making the first save and the second a few times," Hurricanes All-Star Eric Staal said. "He did a pretty good job in there, it was unfortunate that we couldn't capitalize on some of our opportunities, but sometimes that's the way she goes."

Auld bounced back from a dismal effort in Saturday's 5-3 drubbing at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. The 28-year-old turned aside 11 shots in the first period, 14 in the second and 16 in the third.

"It's been a while - I can't remember the last time I had that many (saves)," Auld said. "I felt good and obviously we got the goal support, which was awesome. Like I said, it was a lot of fun.

"When you have a little bit of a cushion, I think that's great to be able to work with."

He got early support in this one, as Heatley opened the scoring 5:57 left in the first. Eaves leveled the contest 17 seconds later, but Kelly recaptured the lead 29 seconds after Eaves struck.

"A big point for us was when it was 1-0 and they scored a bad goal on me and we answered back and scored two right away," Auld said. "I think it shows some of the strides we have made."

Acquired via trade with the New York Islanders on Friday, Comrie fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle that sailed by Cam Ward with 11 seconds remaining in the session.

"It's nice to be able to contribute," Comrie said. "When you come to a new team, the biggest thing is trying to fit in right away. We got a win tonight and we got goals from different lines."

"It was nice to see that one go in because you want to be able to fit in, especially in a win."

Ward stopped only six shots and was lifted before the second for Michael Leighton, who finished with 12 saves.

Spezza gave the Senators a 4-1 bulge on the power play, beating Leighton with a hard wrister at 1:58 of the second. Babchuk answered with a goal on the man advantage with 1:49 remaining in the period, but Auld was impenetrable the rest of the way.

"There's a lot of huge games coming up here and obviously tonight would have been nice, but for us, it didn't happen," Staal said.