Hossa scores 34th goal after missing two games with flu

OTTAWA (AP) -- The Ottawa Senators took full advantage of the extra attacker Saturday night, even when he wasn't theirs.

Shaun Van Allen and Daniel Alfredsson scored special-teams goals and Marian Hossa added his 34th goal into an empty net in Ottawa's 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Van Allen scored a short-handed goal in the first, and Alfredsson broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal in the second.

Hossa assisted on Alfredsson's goal before scoring an empty-netter with 5.9 seconds left as the Senators remained undefeated (2-0-1) since the All-Star break.

"Before the break we made mistakes that didn't allow us to win games," said Alfredsson, who leads Ottawa with 58 points in 53 games. "Now we're giving ourselves a chance every night. We're working hard and special teams was a big factor tonight."

Hossa, who returned after missing two games because of the flu, has 55 points in 54 games.

"I didn't feel as I would like to feel but now we've got a couple of days rest so it's good for me," Hossa said. "I wasn't weak but I could feel the cold air coming through my chest when I was breathing. In the end, I was losing a lot of energy but it was my first game and I was expecting that."

Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 30th goal for Atlanta, which had won the first two games of its three-game road trip, including a 4-2 victory in New Jersey on Friday night.

"I thought we played well enough to win, we just made a couple of mistakes," Thrashers left wing Dany Heatley said. "I think the guys still feel good. Now we've got to go home and regroup, but keep playing the same way. We need to look at the road trip as a positive."

Kovalchuk, who finished second to Heatley last season for the league's Rookie of the Year award, had 29 goals through 65 games when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury on March 10.

Senators rookie Martin Prusek made 24 saves in his second straight start, improving to 10-1-1 in 14 games -- including 12 starts -- this season.

Atlanta, which lost for just the second time in its last eight games, is 7-3-1 since coach Bob Hartley was hired Jan. 14.

"It's a special teams game and they scored a power-play goal," Hartley said.

Van Allen got credit for his 10th goal of the season 12:13 in as Ottawa was killing a penalty to Chris Neil. Van Allen won a faceoff in the Thrashers' zone back to defenseman Zdeno Chara, whose shot from the point struck Van Allen and sailed past goalie Pasi Nurminen.

Kovalchuk drew Atlanta even 4:13 into the second as he put a rebound of Chris Tamer's point shot past Prusek to become the second Thrashers player after Donald Audette to reach 30 goals.

"We lost tonight so it doesn't matter," Kovalchuk said. "It's good to get 30 goals but there are 30 games left. We'll see what happens."

Alfredsson restored the Senators' one-goal lead 1:43 later when he one-timed Todd White's pass beyond Nurminen for Ottawa's league-leading 61st power-play goal.

Game notes
Audette had a team-record 32 goals in 64 games with Atlanta in 2000-01 when he was traded to Buffalo on March 13, 2001. ... Thrashers RW Brad Tapper left the game in the second period because of a bruised chest and was taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure. ... Van Allen has scored two of Ottawa's four short-handed goals this season. ... Senators G Patrick Lalime missed his second straight game because of the flu.