By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun

PITTSBURGH -- Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson should be ready to perform on Broadway tonight.

After injuring his right knee in a collision on Thursday against Carolina, Alfredsson skated at the Corel Centre yesterday morning and will rejoin the team today in time to suit up against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden (5 p.m).

"I was able to skate (yesterday) morning and it feels pretty good," Alfredsson, who missed last night's game against the Penguins, told the Sun from his Ottawa home. "When I spoke with the doctor, he told me if (the knee) was sprained I would probably be out a week, but we'd have to wait to see how it was (yesterday), and I felt good out there. My aim is to play (against the Rangers)."

HAVLAT HURT AT PRACTICE

Meanwhile, winger Martin Havlat was also unable to suit up against the Penguins last night.

Havlat is listed as day-to-day with a right hamstring injury that he suffered near the end of practice on Friday. It's not known when he'll return to the lineup.

And since Ottawa couldn't call anybody up because it would have meant placing somebody on the injured-reserve list to make room on the roster, the Senators decided to dress seven defencemen.

That meant blueliner Shane Hnidy was used up front on the right side against the Penguins. He played forward until he turned 18 and then went back to defence.

"It should be easier because you don't have to think as much," Hnidy said jokingly before the game.

As for Havlat, he tried taking the morning skate yesterday, but was too sore to play. He said he won't know until this morning if he'll able to play against the Rangers, but it's doubtful.

"It's fine when I'm standing still, but it's a whole different story when you're on the ice. I tried skating, but I couldn't do it without pain. It just happened at the end of practice when I was stretching for a puck," said Havlat.

"It's disappointing to get injured. You want to be in there. I've never had this kind of injury before so I don't know how long I'm going to be out. We'll see how it goes in the next couple of days and hopefully it won't be too long."

Sens avoid thrashing

Havlat turns hero as Ottawa snaps out of winless skid


By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun

ATLANTA -- Martin Havlat made a quick trip from the outhouse to the penthouse last night.

What a difference a victory makes.

After having his ice time cut by coach Jacques Martin because of indifferent play, Havlat played the hero last night by scoring the winning goal in the Senators' 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena.

Moved to the top line because of a foot injury that kept winger Marian Hossa out of the lineup, Havlat scored his first goal in six games at 9:26 of the third period. That allowed the Senators to end a five-game winless skid in a tough battle against the Thrashers.

While Havlat popped the winner by Atlanta goalie Pasi Nurminen, winger Peter Schaefer and centre Bryan Smolinski led the attack with two-point nights. Captain Daniel Alfredsson also scored for Ottawa.

"I didn't feel any pressure," said Havlat. "I hadn't played well in the last five games, but I got the chance to play a little bit more (last night). I felt a little bit different out there and I wanted to do the best that I could with the chance.

"Every player wants to play ... not just the good players, every player wants to be part of it. When you get the chance, you've got to work hard. This is a good win for us. Now we have to keep going."

While the Senators have relied on goaltender Patrick Lalime on many nights this season, they didn't see his best against the Thrashers. But Lalime didn't exactly have help, as several Thrashers were allowed to go untouched to the net to create chances.

But the Senators shut the door after Ronald Petrovicky, Randy Robitaille and Yannick Tremblay scored in the first two periods. The Thrashers had only one chance in the third and Lalime made a big save on it.

"It was important for guys like Havlat and Bryan Smolinski to have a good game," said coach Jacques Martin. "I think as a team, we played well. We created chances and we responded physically. I thought we had a strong game overall."

It just seemed like the Senators couldn't put sustained pressure on the Thrashers until the third. Goaltender Pasi Nurminen, who has been the backbone for Atlanta's surprising start, made some great stops but wasn't unbeatable.

Really, the Senators should have taken control when Smolinski scored his first goal in seven games after a giveaway in the Atlanta zone 27 seconds into the second period. But the lead didn't last, as Tremblay circled the net and threw it home to tie it up going into the third.

"We've been working hard and it's nice to get rewarded with the win," said Schaefer. "We all know what it takes to win and I thought we did a good job -- especially in the third. We played our game and we have to build off this."

You could tell this wasn't going to be a typical game right from the start. Both sides used their speed and three goals were scored in a span of 1:42 in the first period -- two by Atlanta, and Alfredsson's eighth of the season.

But just when it looked like the Senators were going to be trailing after the first period, Schaefer tied it up on a perfect feed from rookie Jason Spezza that beat Nurminen on the stick side 33 seconds before the intermission.

"We all knew there was a sense of urgency coming into this game," said Alfredsson. "We know the pressure on this team to win and that we have to get points. I thought we worked hard for 60 minutes and we had four lines contributing.

"That was more our type of game. We played well for 60 minutes and didn't allow them much."

Atlanta coach Bob Hartley was so happy with his club's effort, he bolted from his post-game press conference after answering just two questions.


---

Just when his face was going to appear on a milk carton -- Have you seen this hockey player? -- Martin Havlat reappeared as if beamed down from the alien spaceship that had taken him away to study the effects of missing training camp while involved in a contract dispute.

Puzzled Spezza: 'Losing stinks'


By CHRIS STEVENSON -- Ottawa Sun

So far the hand-wringing hasn't progressed to neck wringing, though the candidates to be taken by the scruff of the neck are becoming more visible by their invisibility in Senatorsland.

Other than the fact the Senators haven't won in five games, their best player was wearing a sandal instead of a skate on his sore foot yesterday and the GM was holding a scrum outside the dressing room, things are just fine, thanks.

The Senators are off to Dixie to face the Thrashers tonight, but nobody was whistling yesterday. Before they jetted off yesterday afternoon, Senators GM John Muckler held an impromptu state of the union address in the hallway outside the Senators' dressing room.

It was an interesting scene, with the players coming off the ice after practice having to squeeze by the assembled scrum.

It was taking place just outside the door to the room where Senators coach Jacques Martin addresses the media each day, a room equipped with a nice podium and comfy chairs.

Muckler could have just taken a couple of steps and held his impromptu press conference in the interview room, but he chose to do it in the hallway.

The players would have had to have worse eyesight than a CFL referee not to notice Muckler holding court.

Muckler was asked if he would address the players himself and he answered no, but you could say he was doing exactly that.

MONITORING MODE

The GM is still in a monitoring mode and while the effort from the Senators has been better lately, the fact of the matter is they are dropping in the standings like Biovail stock on the exchange in the last few months.

With the Thrashers tonight (no pushovers, mind you) and then a four-game homestand starting Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Montreal Canadiens, the Buffalo Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes, this is suddenly shaping up as a crucial little stretch for the Senators.

Then again, when you are in last place in your division, you take nothing for granted and there are no soft spots on the schedule.

When the locals are struggling, somebody's got to be to blame, right?

Guess we're finding out just whom Martin was talking about when he talked about some players displaying "intellectual arrogance" the other day.

HAVLAT DISAPPEARS

A diminution of ice time is the first sign of a coach's dissatisfaction with players and based on that bit of evidence, winger Martin Havlat is near the top of the list, but much like he has been doing on the ice lately, he made himself disappear after practice yesterday.

After picking up three points in his first two games after sitting out for a new contract, Havlat has one assist in his last five games and has seen his ice time drop from a high of 17 minutes, 10 seconds to 12:24 Saturday against New Jersey.

Other candidates are Jason Spezza (high of 20:52 to 13:03) and Petr Schastlivy (15:18 to 7:42).

Spezza took the heat like a pro yesterday, though if your team is counting on a 20-year-old kid with 45 NHL games under his belt to be the barometer of the club, you're in for some stormy weather.

Spezza has been held pointless in five games with just six shots.

"Losing stinks," said Spezza. "Every little thing that goes wrong gets magnified. But I don't think I've ever seen a guy play 82 great games.

"I think even when Wayne Gretzky was scoring 92 goals, he had a few bad games.

"You have to stop the slumps before they start by working hard in practice ... I go home every day and think about it, why we're losing, what went wrong.

"We're not stupid. Everybody in this room knows we're not playing well. It doesn't matter what other people are saying.

"We know we're not playing well. We've got a team here that can do some damage."

Problem so far is most of it has been self-inflicted.

Smolinski scores twice in Sens win
Senators 5, THRASHERS 3

# Summary

ATLANTA (AP) -- After reaching the Eastern Conference final last season, the Ottawa Senators weren't overwhelmed by a five-game winless streak that left them in last place.

Even so, a return to the win column was appreciated Tuesday night.

Bryan Smolinski scored twice to lead the Senators to a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. It was Ottawa's first win since Oct. 25 at Montreal.

"We knew it was just a matter of time," Ottawa goalie Patrick Lalime said.

The Senators slipped to last place in the Northeast Division as a result of their 0-3-2 skid, but coach Jacques Martin said the slump didn't create doubt within the club.

"I don't know about feeling any pressure. I think we've got a fairly mature team and we recognize what we need to do to be better," Martin said.

Martin Havlat slapped a shot past Atlanta goalie Pasi Nurminen to give the Senators a 4-3 lead early in the third period, and Smolinski sealed it with an empty-net goal. The two goals doubled Smolinski's season total.

"It was important for him to have a good game," Martin said. "That is what we expect out of him."

The Thrashers owned a 1-0 lead, but couldn't hold it. Atlanta was also uncharacteristically outscored in the third period.

Atlanta had held an 18-7 goal advantage in the third period, but allowed the Senators to score twice without scoring any themselves. The Thrashers' 18 third-period goals lead the NHL.

The Thrashers have enjoyed recent success by rallying from early deficits. Atlanta is 4-3-3-1 in games it trailed 1-0, including a comeback from 2-0 on Saturday against the New York Islanders.

Atlanta has been trying to reverse the trend of falling behind, and the Thrashers broke through first when Jeff Cowan passed to Ronald Petrovicky, who scored for the third straight game at 10:34.

The Senators answered 42 seconds later on Daniel Alfredsson's eighth goal. But Atlanta took the lead right back when Randy Robitaille put a shot in off Lalime's skate at 12:16.

The three-goal spurt was completed in just 1:42.

Ottawa pulled even at 2-2 with 33 seconds left in the first on Peter Schaefer's slap shot from the left circle.

The Senators needed only 27 seconds into the second to take the lead when Smolinski scored his first of the night. Yannick Tremblay tied it 3-3 for the Thrashers 1:46 later.

Based on his team's strong third-period play this season, Atlanta coach Bob Hartley was happy with the tie after two periods.

"(Ottawa) is a very experienced hockey club, and to keep them at a tie game going into the third period, I thought we were in good shape," Hartley said.

A turnover by Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk set up the go-ahead goal by Havlat.

"Basically, a turnover cost us the game," Hartley said. "When you make that kind of mistake against a good team, they're going to make you pay for it."

Lalime made 22 saves to win for the sixth time this season. Nurminen stopped 24 shots.

Though the Senators needed until Tuesday to snap the skid, they gained momentum in Saturday night's 1-0 loss to New Jersey.

"The last few games, we played well and got no win," Lalime said. "Tonight we came out of the gate strong."

And with an even stronger finish, the Senators don't have to answer any more questions about a winless streak.

"It's a good thing we finally won a game," Havlat said. "We needed to win again."