Alfredsson, Lalime lead Senators past Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- To the Ottawa Senators, it didn't matter who was in goal for the Florida Panthers.

The Senators scored three goals against two different goalies in a 4:10 span of the second period en route to a 4-2 victory Friday.

Daniel Alfredsson had a goal and an assist and Patrick Lalime made 23 saves as the Senators won for the fifth time in eight games, getting 12 points in the stretch.

Looking for a spark, Panthers coach Mike Keenan made four goaltending changes in the second period, yanking Roberto Luongo for Trevor Kidd after Luongo had allowed two goals in the period. Kidd also surrendered a goal, then was pulled, and later returned before Luongo finished out the period.

"After a while we were laughing about it," said Chris Neil, who had a goal against Kidd to make it 4-1. "I guess (Keenan) was trying to change things up and make something happen for them."

Ricard Persson's wrist shot from the left faceoff circle gave the Senators a 2-1 advantage at 2:42 of the second period. Alfredsson set up Persson with a pass from behind the Panthers' goal line.

At 3:58 of the second, Mike Fisher made it 3-1 when his wraparound backhand in front of the net slid past Roberto Luongo.

Unsuccessful clearing the puck, Luongo poked it onto Fisher's stick at the goal line.

Keenan was upset at how Luongo played Fisher's goal.

"Roberto went down," Keenan said. "That's a stop he has to make for us. If he makes that stop we're still in the game."

The Panthers then pulled Luongo in favor of Kidd, who surrendered a goal to Neil at 6:52.

"It's no big deal, (Keenan) does it so much that we expect it," Luongo said. "Nothing really comes as a surprise. You always have to be ready. When you're sitting on the bench, you have to be ready just in case."

Florida closed to 4-2 on Valeri Bure's second goal of the season at 15:03 of the second period.

Bure played for the first time after missing 36 games with a right knee injury. Valeri returned on the night his brother, Pavel Bure, sat out his first game with a broken right hand.

"My brother is out, and he plays 30 minutes a game," Valeri Bure said. "Those 30 minutes are up for grabs for everybody. I wouldn't mind if I get them. That's been my goal."

In the first period, Panthers forward Viktor Kozlov was credited with his seventh goal when his wrist shot, taken from a sharp angle, deflected in off the leg of Senators defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski at 4:30.

Kozlov created the unassisted goal by skating around Persson just inside the Senators' blue line. From the right faceoff circle, Kozlov snapped a shot that Lalime initially saved. But the rebound dropped in front of the net, where Kwiatkowski inadvertently kicked it in.

Alfredsson's wrist shot tied the game 1-1 at 10:12 of the first period, capitalizing on a nifty drop pass from Magnus Arvedson.

"I thought we got good effort," Senators coach Jacques Martin said. "There's not doubt their game plan was to come at us from a physical standpoint. I thought we responded well."

NOTES: Arvedson had a gash to his face during a pile up in front of the Panthers net with 10:42 left in the second period. He played in the third. . . . Valeri Bure was initially injured Oct. 16 at Vancouver. . . . There is no injury update on Pavel Bure, who broken his right hand Wednesday against Dallas. The Panthers are 2-8 without Pavel Bure in the lineup. . . . Alfredsson's goal and an assist snapped a string of three games without a point. . . . Panthers forward Bill Lindsay played in his 700th game.