Senators hit Pens hard in 2nd for 5 goals

Associated Press

OTTAWA

The Ottawa Senators were in the right frame of mind as they headed to the dressing room after a big second period.

Jason Spezza had two goals and two assists, and Jared Cowen also had four points to lead Ottawa to a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

Daniel Alfredsson scored his 398th NHL goal and added two assists, and Erik Karlsson also had three points.

Colin Greening scored 25 seconds into the second, and Zenon Konopka netted the Senators’ fifth goal of the period with 5.7 seconds left, increasing Ottawa’s lead to 5-3 just 4 seconds into a power play.

“We got a big goal from Z on a play right at the end of the period, then we come in feeling good about ourselves,” Spezza said. “It was good to have that break to talk about how we wanted to play against these guys with the lead.”

Karlsson recorded his 100th point with his third assist of the period on Konopka’s goal.

Pittsburgh’s Steve Sullivan had a goal and two assists as the teams combined for eight goals in the middle period after a scoreless first. Matt Niskanen and Evgeni Malkin scored power-play goals 1:07 apart to draw the Penguins even at 3.

Chris Kunitz scored with 1:02 left in the third.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby missed his fourth straight game because of a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms. He is out indefinitely, and the Penguins are 1-3 since he was sidelined again.

“Typically, we’re a lot better defensively than that,” Penguins forward Craig Adams said. “Whether it’s defensive zone coverage or plays up the ice and getting caught on rushes and things like that, certainly our details away from the puck weren’t very good.”

Alex Auld stopped 32 shots for Ottawa in a matchup of backup goalies.

Pittsburgh’s Brent Johnson made 14 saves through the first two periods and then was replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury, who allowed Spezza’s second goal of the game 12:23 into the third. Fleury finished with four saves.