OTTAWA (AP) -- The Ottawa Senators' top line keeps adding to its
impressive scoring totals.
Jason Spezza had two goals and two assists and linemates Dany Heatley
and Daniel Alfredsson each had a goal and two assists, leading Ottawa
to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
Spezza and Alfredsson both have 39 points, tying the New York Rangers'
Jaromir Jagr and Philadelphia's Peter Forsberg for the NHL scoring
lead. Heatley moved up to fifth overall with 37 points.
"We read off each other well," Spezza said. "It may look like we plan
things but a lot of times it's criss-crossing and finding the holes.
Nobody's selfish with the puck and I think that's what makes us a good
line. We move the puck well and nobody cares who scores the goals."
Heatley needed only 34 seconds to extend his points streak to 21 games,
picking up an assist on Spezza's goal on the opening shift. Alfredsson
also got an assist on the play, with Spezza scoring off Heatley's
rebound.
"I know it's there, but I'm not putting too much emphasis on it,"
Heatley said of the streak. "I just want to go out and play well, move
the puck with those two and things will care of themselves."
The Senators, 18-3-0 overall, have won five straight and 10 of 11.
Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa opened the season with six straight
wins from Oct. 5-21.
"They really can't do too much wrong," said Bruins goalie Andrew
Raycroft, who made 36 saves as the Senators outshot Boston 40-24,
including a 16-5 margin in the first.
Brad Isbister scored his fourth goal to tie it at 1 in the first, and
Nick Boynton scored the Bruins' other goal with 19.3 seconds remaining.
Boston (8-12-5) lost for the second straight night after ending a
season-high six-game losing streak Wednesday night with a 5-1 win in
Toronto.
"We make it hard on ourselves in certain situations," Bruins coach Mike
Sullivan said. "We've got opportunities to advance the puck and move
the puck, simple options, short options, and we're looking for the
better play and it's cost us. You combine that with some avoidable
penalties against a team like this, that has a potent power play, and
it's tough to win."
Ottawa went 2-for-5 with the man advantage. Boston was 0-for-7.
Veteran defenseman Brian Leetch returned to the Bruins' lineup after
missing 10 games because of a knee injury.
"I had high expectations but the game seemed pretty quick to me out
there after being off for a month," Leetch said. "I got caught looking
a few times on some of their criss-crosses and stuff, but overall the
knee held up pretty good."
Spezza's 10th goal, a power-play score 9 seconds into the second
period, put the Senators up 2-1. Heatley, who made a skate save to
prevent a Boston goal midway through the third, made it 3-1 when he
scored his 17th goal on another power play at 15:41.
Alfredsson added his team-leading 19th goal 6:21 into the third,
teaming up with Heatley and Spezza once again.
Heatley even displayed some goaltending skill moments later, backing up
Dominik Hasek who was caught out of the nets after making a sprawling
save on Eric Nickulas' shot. Standing at the left post, Heatley had Tom
Fitzgerald's follow-up shot deflect off his skate and along the goal
line.
Heatley has 17 goals and 20 assists and is the only NHL player to
register a point in every one of his team's games this season.
Spezza, who has scored a goal in each of his last four games, extended
both his assist and point streaks to six games.
The Corel Centre crowd observed a moment of silence prior to the game
in memory of Ottawa forward Chris Neil's mother Bonnie. She was killed
in a car accident Tuesday.
Game notes
Bruins captain Joe Thornton assisted on Boynton's goal to extend his
point streak to five games. ... Alexandre Daigle holds the Senators'
record for fastest goal from the start of a period. Daigle, now with
Minnesota, scored 7 seconds into the second period of Ottawa's 3-3 road
tie against the New York Islanders on Jan. 22, 1995. ... Neil has
missed three games since learning of his mother's death while he was
with the team in Raleigh, N.C. Bonnie Neil's funeral was held Saturday.
... Senators rookie Andrej Meszaros was originally credited with
Spezza's second goal. He lost what would have been his first NHL goal
when off-ice officials reviewed the play following the game and
determined Spezza had tipped the defenseman's point shot. "I'm not
disappointed," Meszaros said. "The most important thing is we won the
game."