Chara, Alfredsson lead Senators past Panthers

OTTAWA -- Zdeno Chara gave Ottawa's power-play unit a big presence in front of the net.

Chara and Daniel Alfredsson scored power-play goals and Patrick Lalime made 28 saves to lead the Senators to a 2-0 win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

The 6-9 defenseman scored his ninth goal of the season 12:21 into the second and then screened goalie Roberto Luongo as Alfredsson added his 34th goal with 11:11 left in the third.

"I just tried to make some room for the guys to shoot," Chara said. "On the first one, I got a great pass from Radek Bonk and just tipped it, and the puck went in. On the second one, I was standing in front of the goalie and Alfie just made a good shot."

Ottawa has won four of five to tie Toronto for second in the Northeast Division with 83 points, one less than Eastern Conference leaders Boston and Philadelphia.

Lalime, who got his sixth shutout, won his second game in as many days following a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Bonk assisted on both goals.

Luongo stopped 39 shots as Ottawa outshot Florida 41-28 overall and 18-7 in the second.

Chara also fought Florida enforcer Peter Worrell twice in the second in a game that ended with bad blood between the two teams.

Ottawa played all but 2:00 of the final 5:26 shorthanded after Chris Neil was assessed an instigating minor, fighting major and game misconduct when he jumped Florida center Byron Ritchie -- who wasn't penalized on the play -- in the left corner behind the Panthers' net.

"I don't really know what happened, if he had a reason to do what he did, but we did a great job of penalty-killing," Alfredsson said.

Senators defenseman Shane Hnidy fought with Panthers center Jason Wiemer with 0:13 left before players from both teams squared off at the end of the game, with Florida defenseman Brad Ference trading punches with Senators right winger Magnus Arvedson.

"They were upset about the tactics at the end of the game but they're the ones that initiated a response," Panthers coach Mike Keenan said. "It was a cowardly act by a tough guy so nobody respects that, and certainly our team doesn't.

"A tough guy picks on the smallest guy we've got on the bench, who's not a fighter. It's something that nobody in the game respects, particularly the players. The players, I'm sure, on their team don't even respect it," he said.

With the two teams scheduled to meet again in Ottawa on March 28, even Pavel Bure -- the subject of much speculation as Tuesday's trade deadline approaches -- is looking forward to the rematch.

"They better be ready because they sucker-punched our guy, basically, they almost killed him," Bure said. "That's going to be something, that game. That's all I can tell you."

Chara broke a scoreless tie when he redirected a pass from Bonk under a sprawled Luongo from the edge of the crease.

"Every time I play on the power play I try to be in front of the goalie and cause some traffic in front so we can get some screened shots, and that's what I did," Chara said.

Notes: Panthers left winger Marcus Nilson has been suspended by the league pending a hearing on Monday for slashing Buffalo's Eric Boulton on Friday. ... Lalime has 19 career shutouts. He is 10-4-3 -- including two overtime losses -- since Jan. 17. ... Senators center Juha Ylonen wore No. 36 in his second game since he was acquired from Tampa Bay on Friday. Ylonen wore No. 24 in his Ottawa debut on Saturday.