Senators Dominate Coyotes

Although the Ottawa Senators had a sluggish start, they finished with a flurry against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Igor Kravchuk scored the go-ahead, power-play goal early in the third period of Ottawa’s 5-2 victory over Phoenix on Thursday night at Kanata, Canada.

Kravchuk’s blast from the left point just 30 seconds into the period beat Coyotes goalie Robert Esche over the shoulder to break a 2-2 tie as the Senators won their second consecutive game.

“We were really pumped tonight,” said Senator captain Daniel Alfredsson, who had three assists, including one on Kravchuk’s goal. “The first period was a bit [slow], after that we started to skate better.”

Marian Hossa and Shawn McEachern each had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, which has lost just twice in their last 13. Vaclav Prospal and Jason York also scored.

Rick Tocchet scored both goals for the Coyotes, who came into the game with the NHL’s best road record at 12-6-2-0.

The Coyotes managed only 12 shots, including four in the third, on Senator goalie Patrick Lalime. Esche, playing in his sixth NHL game, made 29 saves.

The Senators scored first for only the third time in their last 19 games when Hossa beat Esche with less than five minutes remaining in the first. Tocchet tied the score, 1-1, at 17:46.

Prospal, who has three goals and seven assists in his last eight games, gave the Senators a 2-1 lead midway through the second period before Tocchet’s breakaway goal tied it.

Ottawa added two late goals, including York’s power-play score. The Senators’ power-play unit finished two for three, while the Coyotes went 0 for 1.

“To get beat like that, in all aspects of the game, it’s humbling,” Coyote Coach Bob Francis said. “They were in our face all the time. The game was played on three-quarters of the ice.”

The line of Prospal, McEachern and Alfredsson combined for six points. Alfredsson has 13 points in his last eight and McEachern has 11 in his last 10.

Phoenix defenseman Teppo Numminen extended his streak of consecutive games played to an NHL-best 337.

Philadelphia 3, N.Y. Islanders 2--Rod Brind’Amour and Mikael Renberg each had a goal and an assist as the Flyers fought off the Islanders at Philadelphia to increase the NHL’s longest active home unbeaten streak to 14 games.

Daymond Langkow had a goal and Mark Recchi added three assists for the Flyers, who have outscored their opponents 49-28 while going 11-0-3 during their streak. Philadelphia is 4-0-1 in its last five overall.

Carolina 7, Boston 3--Paul Ranheim scored twice, including the tie-breaker, and Robert Kron had a goal and two assists as the Hurricanes continued their success against the Bruins at Boston.

The Hurricanes are 5-0-1 in their last six games in Boston.

Ray Bourque had one assist, giving him 1,495 career points and moving him into ninth place on the career list.

New Jersey 6, Buffalo 3--Bobby Holik scored the go-ahead goal, and Petr Sykora scored on a penalty shot in the Devils’ victory over the Sabres at Buffalo, N.Y.

Denis Pederson, Claude Lemieux, Patrik Elias, and Scott Gomez also scored for New Jersey, which is 5-0-2 in its last seven.

Detroit 5, Nashville 2--Steve Yzerman moved into ninth place on the NHL’s career goals list and Larry Murphy moved into a tie for 10th in career assists at Detroit as the Red Wings ended a three-game winless streak.

St. Louis 4, Montreal 3--Pierre Turgeon scored two first-period goals and added an assist to lead the Blues past the Canadiens at St. Louis.

Atlanta 3, Washington 1--Ray Ferraro scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period, and Nelson Emerson knocked in a wrist shot 26 seconds later as the Thrashers defeated the Capitals at Atlanta.

Chicago 5, Calgary 2--Steve Sullivan and Boris Mironov each had a goal and two assists as the Blackhawks won in Chicago for only the fifth time in 20 games.