Senators Almost Let One Get Away

Squandering a three-goal third-period lead seemed to make the Ottawa Senators work harder.

It paid off as Radek Bonk scored on a rebound with 1:15 to play and the Senators came back to beat the New Jersey Devils, 5-3, Wednesday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

The win gave the Senators a six-point lead over the Devils in the race for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

“We needed it,” Bonk said. “They got a couple of goals on the power play and they got back in the game. It’s a credit to us that we never stopped working and got back at them.”

Martin Havlat and Marian Hossa each added two goals for Ottawa, which has won five of six. The Senators have beaten New Jersey in three of four games this season.

“There was a little drama, definitely,” said Hossa, who iced the game with an empty-net goal with 38 seconds left.

New York Rangers 4, Minnesota 2 -- Mark Messier’s breakaway goal in the second period proved to be the difference at St. Paul, Minn.

Messier picked up an errant pass and came in alone on goalie Dwayne Roloson.

He tucked a backhand shot between the right post and Roloson’s skate to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

New York ended a two-game losing streak and improved its record against the Wild to 4-0. Minnesota is on a three-game losing streak, its longest this season.

Buffalo 2, Montreal 1 -- Miroslav Satan scored 3:49 into overtime at Buffalo, N.Y.

Vaclav Varada, back after sitting out 17 games because of a sprained right knee, also scored as the Sabres won for only the second time in 11 games (2-6-0-3).

Dallas 1, Calgary 1 -- Scott Young’s goal with 4:10 left in regulation gave the Stars the tie at Dallas.

Calgary’s Roman Turek stopped 38 shots and was closing in on his third shutout of the season and 23rd of his career when Young connected from the slot on a one-timer off a pass from Mike Modano.

Jere Lehtinen nearly won the game for the Stars one minute into overtime, but his blast from the high slot hit the right goal post.

Boston 1, Carolina 1 -- Brian Rolston scored a power-play goal late in the third period at Raleigh, N.C., to give the Bruins the tie.

The Hurricanes controlled much of the game behind the steady goaltending of Kevin Weekes. Weekes, who faced 91 shots in his last two starts, had 26 saves.

New York Islanders 3, San Jose 0 -- Captain Michael Peca scored two goals and Garth Snow stopped 29 shots for the 15th shutout of his career to lead the Islanders at San Jose.

Kenny Jonsson also ended a 13-game goal-scoring drought for the surging Islanders, who finished a four-game trip with their fourth win in six games.

New York jumped into a tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with Boston and Tampa Bay, who all have 64 points.

Tampa Bay 2, Atlanta 0 -- Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards scored 1:59 apart in the third period at Tampa, Fla., and John Grahame made 27 saves for his third shutout of the season.