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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
KANATA, Ontario (AP) -- Marian Hossa's first three-goal game in
the NHL was an unusual one.
|  | | Ottawa's Chris Phillips put Florida's Serge Payer into the boards during the Senators' victory. |
Ottawa's leading scorer had two short-handed goals and one on a
power play goal in the Ottawa Senators' 5-2 victory Saturday night
over the Florida Panthers.
Radek Bonk, with a short-handed goal, and Shawn McEachern also
scored to help Ottawa snap a four-game losing streak in front of a
Corel Centre crowd of 18,204. With Buffalo losing 4-1 at St. Louis,
the Senators regained first place in the Northeast Division.
"It's bizarre for us to score three short-handed goals, but it
feels great," said Hossa, who also assisted on Bonk's goal. "It
feels nice to get my first NHL hat trick.
"My game is to play relaxed and play a hard-skating game.
That's what I did. I got some rebounds and I feel lucky about
that."
The Panthers (3-8-4-3), missing seven injured players, got a
short-handed goal from Pavel Bure. Rookie Serge Payer added his
first NHL goal.
"Three short-handed goals and a power-play goal is just
devastating," Florida coach Terry Murray said. "They had a huge
night on special teams, they were hungry out there.
"They were breaking out and ended up with many odd-man rushes
in the early part of the game. We gave ourselves no chance at
all."
Hossa and Bure, Florida's top sniper, opened the scoring by
trading short-handed goals in the first period.
Hossa, the league's plus-minus ratings leader, beat goalie Trevor Kidd on a breakaway 6:08 into the game for his ninth goal of
the season.
The goal snapped an Ottawa drought that lasted 147 minutes, 48
seconds -- spanning more than seven periods.
Bure responded 3:30 later, breaking down the right side and
forcing his way in front to get past Ottawa goalie Patrick Lalime.
Hossa struck again with a man advantage at 13:05, Ottawa's first
power-play goal in 19 attempts.
Payer tied it 2-2 with 2.2 seconds in the first period, rifling
Len Barrie's rebound past Lalime.
Fans threw more than a dozen hats on the ice when Hossa capped a
play that began with Bonk's breakaway on Panthers goalie Roberto
Luongo. Luongo stopped Bonk, but the forward fired the puck back in
front to Hossa 3:34 into the second.
"We said before the game that we have to play hard, like we did
at the beginning of the season," Hossa said.
Kidd did not return for the second period because of an injury
to his right calf.
Bonk and McEachern struck two minutes apart early in the final
period.
"Hossa is a smart player," Bonk said. "On the second PK goal,
he put his head up and saw me going."
Florida's Todd Simpson went after Ottawa forward Alexei Yashin
with 4:40 remaining and was ejected, along with Ottawa's Shane
Hnidy.
"I was really pleased with the way we came out," Ottawa coach
Jacques Martin said. "We played with a bit of assertiveness and we
carried the play."
Lalime also had no complaints with the Senators' effort.
"We battled hard from the first second to the last second," he
said. "Three short-handed goals tells it all."
Game notes
Ottawa forward Andreas Dackell had his consecutive-game
streak end at 140 because of the flu. ... The Senators' 1-0 loss to
Carolina here Thursday also cost Ottawa the services of top
goal-scorer LW Magnus Arvedson (broken left foot) and D Sami Salo
(left shoulder). Arvedson is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Florida Clubhouse
Ottawa Clubhouse
RECAPS
New Jersey 3
Carolina 2
Los Angeles 6
Colorado 4
Minnesota 6
Boston 1
Toronto 6
Montreal 1
Ottawa 5
Florida 2
Philadelphia 5
Washington 3
Pittsburgh 3
Atlanta 1
Nashville 3
Detroit 2
St. Louis 4
Buffalo 1
Anaheim 6
Phoenix 2
NY Rangers 5
Calgary 4
San Jose 5
NY Islanders 3
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