White breaks drought with OT goal

OTTAWA (AP) -- Todd White finally got the puck to go the way he wanted.

White scored at 1:34 of overtime Monday night to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers.

Daniel Alfredsson took advantage of a turnover at the Panthers blue line to send White in alone on goaltender Roberto Luongo. White deked Luongo before sliding the puck in. He had gone 11 games without a goal.

"We did throw a lot of rubber at him and we were fortunate to bury one in overtime," White said. "I've had some good chances lately, but they haven't gone in, so it's pretty gratifying."

Rookie Antoine Vermette and Martin Havlat also scored for Ottawa.

Martin Prusek, who shut out the Panthers on Dec. 3, made 19 saves for the Senators. Ottawa won its third straight game and has lost only one time in six games.

Valeri Bure scored twice and Luongo stopped 42 shots for Florida, which lost for the first time in three games and for the second time in seven.

Luongo fell to 1-8-1 in his career against the Senators, who are 11-3 in the last 14 meetings between the teams.

"We're not going to win hockey games if we do two things: turn the puck over and don't get the puck out of our zone," Luongo said. "We did that all night and that's why we lost."

It took the Senators just over two minutes to open the scoring. Vermette bunted a rebound out of the air past Luongo at 2:20, and Ottawa carried that lead into the second.

"It's nice to put a couple of wins together and get a streak going and get a positive attitude in the dressing room," Senators defenseman Zdeno Chara said.

The Panthers tied it at 1:45 of the second during a power play after Bure took a pass in full flight at the Ottawa blue line. From the high slot, he snapped a quick shot over Prusek's shoulder.

The goal was the first allowed by the Senators' penalty-killing unit in seven games.

Bure then added his second 3½ minutes later when he picked up a rebound in front of the net and lifted the puck over the fallen Prusek to make it 2-1.

The lead lasted little more than a minute, however. With Ottawa enjoying its own man advantage, Havlat converted Marian Hossa's pass to tie it at 6:31.

Hossa has at least a point in six consecutive games.

The Senators outshot the Panthers 22-7 in the second period. Florida had seven shots in each of the first three periods, but recorded none in overtime.

"We did some good things, but they did good things for 60 minutes," Florida coach Rick Dudley said. "If you turn the puck over as many times as we did, you're going to pay for it."

Game notes
Ottawa D Brian Pothier missed his third straight game because of a concussion. ... Florida has earned at least a point in 11 of 14 games. ... When the Toronto Maple Leafs visit Florida on Dec. 29, the Panthers will accept Canadian money as payment for tickets in the hope of attracting visitors from Canada.