Late goal lets Senators wear out Jackets

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Patrick Lalime became the Ottawa Senators' winningest goaltender, but it wasn't his finest hour.

Jody Hull scored on a tip-in while falling down with 2:40 remaining as the Senators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-4 Wednesday.

"You don't choose the way it happens. There were a few bad ones tonight," Lalime said. "The good thing is, hopefully they're all in one game. And we won this one."

Lalime stopped 24 shots for the victory, allowing him to pass current Blue Jackets goalie Ron Tugnutt for the most victories for the Senators. Lalime is 73-48-14; Tugnutt was 72-51-25 in his four seasons in Ottawa.

"It was nice to play against him. He's a great guy. I had a lot of fun with him in Ottawa" Lalime said. "It wasn't obviously the game we wanted to play against each other."

On the decisive goal, Mike Fisher, who later added an empty-net goal off an assist from Hull, dug the puck out the corner and fired at the net from close to the goal line. Hull was sliding to the ice but stuck out his stick and deflected the puck past Tugnutt.

The Senators are unbeaten in six games (3-0-3-0), while Columbus has lost five in a row including three at home.

Shawn McEachern, Hull and Fisher each had a goal and an assist for Ottawa. Todd White and Sami Salo each had two assists.

Ray Whitney had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets.

Columbus, which was humiliated 8-0 by Boston on Monday, turned the tables by scoring two quick goals against the Senators.

"Right now it's not very much consolation that we played better," Blue Jackets coach Dave King said. "We did play a much better game, but right now we'd like to get some wins and some points."

Whitney's slap shot from the blue line across open ice slipped past Lalime at 1:19 of the first, giving Whitney his 14th goal. Grant Marshall jammed in his 13th after Tyler Wright's shot bounced off of Lalime's chest at the 5:09 mark.

Ottawa came back to make it 2-1 with Chris Neil picking up his sixth goal after White lost control of the puck on a terrific move at the right wing. The Senators then scored twice in 19 seconds -- the second coming before the first had been announced to the Blue Jackets' 44th straight sellout crowd.

The quicker, faster Senators made the most of a 4-on-4 situation in each case.

Radek Bonk scored the first, taking advantage when Ricard Persson's bullet from the wing glanced off both posts and ricocheted back into the crease between Tugnutt's legs. Bonk's 16th goal was in the net before Tugnutt knew where the puck was.

McEachern sliced a centering pass from the left boards that bounced off the skate of Blue Jackets defenseman Deron Quint for his ninth goal.

"Probably the turning point of the game was when we got those two goals 4-on-4 in the second period," Senators coach Jacques Martin said.

Columbus countered with two more goals at the outset of the second period, Espen Knutsen scoring his ninth on the power play through traffic at the 2:54 mark and Lyle Odelein picking up his second of the season -- and first since Nov. 1 -- on a long slap shot that eluded Lalime on the glove side.

Daniel Alfredsson's career-high 27th goal of the season -- and 150th of his career -- came at the 11:58 mark on the power play to tie it again at 4-4.

"I think we kind of took the play to them in the third and took over the game," Alfredsson said. "I think we showed we were the better team."

Tugnutt didn't begrudge Lalime the Ottawa record.

"I enjoyed spending time with Patrick," said Tugnutt, who was backed up by Lalime for one year with the Senators. "He's a class guy. I can honestly say I hope good things for him."

NOTES: Marshall's 13th goal tied his career high. . . . Senators right winger Marian Hossa was scratched because of tendinitis in his left knee -- the same knee he had surgically repaired four years ago. . . . There were 40 minutes in penalties called in the second period, including a game misconduct for Senators forward Chris Herperger.