Sharks Have Shots, Senators Have Goals

The Ottawa Senators are making their surge to the top of the Eastern Conference look easy.

Magnus Arvedson scored twice, and Daniel Alfredsson had four assists as Ottawa beat the San Jose Sharks, 9-3, Thursday night at Ottawa, Canada.

Despite being outshot, 33-23, the Senators had their highest scoring game of the season and won their second straight.

Ottawa has gone 14-2-3 since a 7-1 loss in Boston on Nov. 9. The Senators tied the Bruins -- who lost, 5-3, in Washington -- for first overall in the conference with 42 points.

“We know it’s not easy to do and I think we remind ourselves before we go out every game,” Alfredsson said. “We want to give ourselves a chance to win every night. We know we’re going to go through streaks where we’re not going to be as successful, but putting a streak like this together the last 20 games it allows you to come over those slumps and bounce back.”

“After 10 minutes, I thought we would settle down, but we didn’t,” Shark Coach Ron Wilson said. “You lose 2-1, you lose 9-3 -- you still lost.”

The Sharks are 4-2-0-1 since Wilson was hired Dec. 4.

New Jersey 3, Pittsburgh 1 -- Joe Nieuwendyk scored his first goal in 21 games and set up New Jersey’s second goal with an uncontested faceoff win, and the Devils ran Pittsburgh’s losing streak to a near-record 10 games.

Oleg Tverdovsky and Brian Gionta also scored at Pittsburgh as the Devils stopped a three-game losing streak.

Colorado 2, Edmonton 1 -- Patrick Roy stopped 31 shots at Denver to help Tony Granato win his NHL coaching debut.

Colorado came out hitting from the start to win for only the fourth time in 16 home games.

Vancouver 3, Nashville 1 -- Matt Cooke’s two assists sparked the Canucks at Nashville.

With four seconds left in the game, Sami Salo scored an empty-net goal. It was the first empty-net goal allowed by Nashville this season.

Dallas 1, Detroit 1 -- Philippe Boucher’s goal 4:43 into the third period lifted Dallas into a tie at Detroit.

It was the third tie this season between two of the better teams in the Western Conference. Dallas is first with 45 points (18-7-8-1) and Detroit is fourth with 41 (17-8-6-1). Dallas leads the Pacific Division and Detroit tops the Central.

Washington 5, Boston 3 -- Peter Bondra scored two goals, and the Capitals weathered a furious comeback at Washington to hand the Bruins their fifth straight loss.

Olaf Kolzig had 36 saves for the Capitals, who took a 4-0 lead into the third period but needed a late goal by Steve Konowalchuk to secure the win.

New York Islanders 4, Minnesota 2 -- Minnesota native Mark Parrish scored two goals for the Islanders at St. Paul, Minn.

Columbus 3, Calgary 0 -- Marc Denis made 29 saves for his fifth career shutout, and Lasse Pirjeta scored twice at Columbus, Ohio.

Montreal 3, New York Rangers 1 -- Jose Theodore stopped 41 shots, and Yanic Perreault scored two goals at New York. Doug Gilmour assisted on both of Perreault’s goals, giving him seven points in the last three games.

Toronto 2, Tampa Bay 1 -- At Tampa, Ed Belfour came within 96 seconds of his sixth shutout of the season.

Maple Leaf Coach Pat Quinn earned his 543rd win, moving him past Billy Reay into fifth place on the career list.