Hossa's four-goal outburst breaks team record
OTTAWA (AP) -- Marian Hossa and the Ottawa Senators played for the love of hockey -- not that they had much choice.

  Hossa had a career-high and team-record four goals -- including three straight in the first period -- to lead the financially troubled Senators to an 8-1 victory Thursday night over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Ottawa, which leads the Eastern Conference with 53 points, played its first game since failing to meet its player payroll after a complex refinancing deal fell through two days earlier.

"You can't really control what's going around, we just can control our job and that's what we did tonight,'' Hossa said. "It kind of reminded me of old times, when we didn't get paid in junior, so it was fun.''

Todd White -- selected earlier in the day as the NHL's player of the month for December -- Jody Hull, Shaun Van Allen and Radek Bonk also scored for the Senators. They have lost just three of their last 26 games (19-3-4-0).

"We haven't even really talked about it, as a group of guys,'' Hull said. "That stuff's out of our control so all we can do is keep going out and playing the way we've been playing and let that stuff take care of itself.''

Hossa scored on Ottawa's third, fifth and seventh shots as the Senators took a 4-0 lead and chased Atlanta goalie Byron Dafoe 12:03 in.

"You can't give Hossa too much room -- he's so good,'' said Thrashers forward Shawn McEachern, who spent the previous six seasons with Ottawa.

Hossa got his third hat trick of the season, then added his fourth goal of the game and 25th overall against Milan Hnilicka at 6:02 of the second period.

"The bounces went my way -- every shot went in for me,'' Hossa said.

Hossa also had an assist, and joined Philadelphia's John LeClair and Vancouver's Markus Naslund with four-goal games this season.

Rookie goaltender Martin Prusek improved to 7-0 despite leaving with a groin injury 13:07 into the first after stopping all five shots he faced. Patrick Lalime relieved Prusek and allowed Brad Tapper's unassisted goal 50 seconds into the second period, but stopped 14 of 15 shots.

Hull took advantage of a fortunate bounce off the end boards 2:58 in and beat Dafoe, who returned after missing four games with a groin injury.

Hossa made it 2-0 at 4:58 after he was sent in by defenseman Wade Redden, and scored again at 8:34. Hossa made it 4-0 at 12:03 when he broke past two defensemen and drove in on Dafoe before sweeping across the goalmouth to put the puck into the open side of the net.

''(Dafoe) was healthy. He was 100-percent healthy, he just obviously wasn't game-sharp,'' Thrashers coach Don Waddell said.

After Tapper scored on a breakaway, Hossa got his fourth when he drove straight to the net from the left corner to slip the puck past Hnilicka.

White added his 14th goal at 11:29, and Van Allen and Bonk scored in the third period.

Game notes
Thrashers RW Jeff Odgers fought with Ottawa's Chris Neil 3:09 into the second. ... Hossa's first-period goals were scored 7:05 apart, breaking Bob Kudelski's team record for fastest three goals in a game. Kudelski scored three goals in 13:48 against San Jose on Jan. 10, 1993. ... It was Hossa's fourth career hat trick.