Ducks Can’t Stop East-Leading Senators

Magnus Arvedson ended a lengthy scoring drought and helped Marian Hossa achieve a scoring milestone.

Arvedson assisted on Hossa’s 30th goal and ended a 10-game scoreless run as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Mighty Ducks, 4-1, Friday night.

“I didn’t know that,” Arvedson said of Hossa’s accomplishment. “But it’s good. He’s going to get more goals too. He’s going to improve that record and have a great year.”

Hossa’s 30th goal topped his previous career high of 29, set last season.

Alexei Yashin scored his 33rd goal and Mike Sillinger added an empty-net goal for Ottawa, which moved two points ahead of idle New Jersey atop the Eastern Conference standings with 93 points.

“It’s important to jump ahead, but you can’t think too much about what the other teams are doing,” Arvedson said. “You have to do your own work.”

Duck rookie Antti-Jussi Niemi scored his first NHL goal with 5:43 left in the third to ruin Patrick Lalime’s bid for the shutout.

Lalime, traded by Anaheim to Ottawa for Ted Donato and Niemi after the 1998-99 season, stopped 30 shots for his 31st victory.

Arvedson made a nifty drop pass to set up Hossa’s first-period goal and beat Mighty Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere 2:30 into the third for his 15th goal of the season and first since Feb. 22.

“It felt good to get that goal,” Arvedson said.

Hossa beat Giguere 13:02 into the first after Arvedson carried the puck into the Mighty Duck zone and dropped a nice pass.

Arvedson’s backhander past Giguere gave the Senators a 2-0 lead early in the third period, and Yashin’s short-handed goal at 13:11 gave Ottawa a 3-0 advantage.

Niemi, who was a fourth-round Ottawa selection in the 1996 entry draft, scored 1:06 later for the Ducks, who lost their second consecutive game.

“I suppose if I could choose a team to score my first goal against, I might say Ottawa,” Niemi said. “But it wasn’t on my mind.”

Sillinger scored his 15th into an empty net with 32 seconds remaining.