Hossa scores his 16th off own rebound

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Bryce Salvador lost his cool and the St. Louis Blues lost a point.

Marian Hossa scored on his own rebound with 1:06 left in regulation as the Ottawa Senators, capitalizing on a late power play, rallied for a 2-2 tie Thursday night.

Hossa scored his 16th of the season after Fred Brathwaite stopped his shot from the point. The left side of the net was wide open for Hossa's backhand rebound.

Ottawa capitalized on a double roughing call on Salvador with 2:16 remaining in regulation. Salvador was whistled for pummeling Chris Neil, but said Neil threw the first punch.

"It was one of those moments you'd like to have over again,'' Salvador said. "He kind of came at me and threw a punch and I just reacted. It would have been nice to have been more disciplined.''

Neil got into a shoving match with Doug Weight earlier in the third. He didn't mind taking a beating for the team.

"I just turned my head and he kept punching me in the back of the head,'' Neil said. "I'll take those all game.

"The main thing is you wonder if the ref is going to make the right call, and fortunately, they did.''

The Senators got off 11 shots the first two periods combined, and 15 in the third to force overtime, then outshot the Blues 6-5 in a wide-open extra period. They rallied one night after their 10-game unbeaten streak was ended in a 1-0 loss at Chicago and had the best chances in overtime as Brathwaite stopped breakaways by Martin Havlat, Magnus Arvedson and Todd White.

"Overtime, I guess was exciting for you guys,'' Brathwaite told reporters. "Not for us.''

Arvedson said the Senators should have learned after Brathwaite made Havlat make the first move.

"After that, I kept telling myself if I get one, I'm going five-hole,'' Arvedson said. "Then I get one and I didn't do that. At least it was entertaining for the fans.''

Scott Mellanby's power-play goal gave the Blues, unbeaten at 2-0-2-1 in their last five games, a 2-1 lead.

Weight also scored with the man advantage for the Blues, 6-0-1-1 against the Eastern Conference and 3-0-1 against the Northeast Division. Chris Phillips got the other goal for the Senators.

Mellanby scored his eighth goal at 3:19 of the third, only seven seconds after Curtis Leschyshyn went off for holding Tyson Nash behind the Senators net. The puck deflected in off Mellanby's skate from a pass from Alexander Khavanov, but the goal was allowed after a video review.

Mellanby has four goals and four assists in the last eight games.

After a scoreless first period, play opened up a bit in the second and Weight's power-play goal put the Blues ahead. Weight scored his 11th goal, tying him for the team lead, from the side of the net off Patrick Lalime's pads at 11:45 to cap a flurry of chances for St. Louis.

The Senators tied it on Phillips' power-play goal at 16:26. Phillips got his second goal of the season on a shot from the point through traffic to beat Brathwaite.

Brathwaite is fighting for a job with Tom Barrasso to back up Brent Johnson, expected back in about a week from a high ankle sprain sustained before training camp. Brathwaite has allowed one goal the last two games.

"I just go out there and try to have a good time,'' Brathwaite said. "I just try to make the decision hard for those guys.''

Barrasso has missed three games with back spasms.

Game notes
Blues C Mike Eastwood was a healthy scratch for the sixth straight game and the team is likely to place him on waivers Friday when Johnson makes his first rehab start for Worcester (AHL). ... Lalime played in his 180th game with the Senators, one behind franchise leader Damian Rhodes. ... This is the fifth set of games on consecutive nights for the Senators. They're 2-3 on the front half and 1-2-2 on the back end.