Ottawa

The Boston Bruins moved past Buffalo and Montreal in the fight for home-ice advantage in the playoffs, but that will mean little if they continue playing as they did against Ottawa. The Bruins blew an early three-goal lead and had to rally in the third period for a 5-4 win over the visiting Senators, the league's worst team. After scoring on three of their first four shots, the Bruins allowed four straight goals to the league's lowest-scoring team. "We got a little too excited there," Bruins winger Brent Hughes said.

Ottawa scored both of its runs in the eighth inning yesterday and defeated the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, 2-1, in an International League game. Sergio Valdez earned the win for Ottawa. Toby Borland took the loss for the Red Barons. ALBANY 9, READING 3 ALBANY, N.Y. - A bases-loaded triple by Albany shortstop Robert Eenhorn was the big hit in an eight-run second inning as the Yankees defeated the Reading Phillies in an Eastern League game. In that second inning, Albany sent 13 batters to the plate.

Brad Richards scored the go-ahead goal and Derek Stepan had a goal and two assists as the top-seeded New York Rangers staved off elimination with a 3-2 victory against Senators on Monday night in Ottawa. The series heads back to New York Thursday night for the first Game 7 in any sport at Madison Square Garden in 17 years. Not even the return of Daniel Alfredsson, who missed three games with a concussion, in front of the fired-up home crowd at Scotiabank Place could help the eighth-seeded Senators complete the upset.

Andrew Brunette is so hot, he's scoring goals with his hip. With a few lucky bounces and some strong goaltending, the Washington Capitals ended a season-and-a-half of frustration against Ottawa last night, stopping a six-game losing streak against the visiting Senators with a 4-0 victory. "Hopefully, we got rid of the Ottawa jinx," said All-Star goalie Olaf Kolzig, who stopped 24 shots for his 20th victory - six more than he had in his entire five-year NHL career before this season.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pounded out 16 hits in a 13-4 International League win yesterday. A six-run Scranton sixth helped stop Ottawa's longest win streak of the year at five games. The outburst began as winning pitcher Robert Gaddy (5-7) doubled for his second hit of the game. The Barons improved to 31-50, still last in the East Division. HARRISBURG 10, READING 6 READING 3, HARRISBURG 2 READING, Pa. - Harrisburg ended Reading's season-high seven-game winning streak in the opener.

Guys like Vinny Prospal used to be what the Flyers were about. Yes, Prospal is slow and skinny-legged. He needed every bit of the four years the Flyers kept him in the minors. Even now, headed toward his 24th birthday in February, he can't say he's definitely made it in the NHL. Last night, Prospal had three assists, doubling his season point total, in a 5-4 Ottawa victory over the Flyers at the First Union Center. He scored a goal, as well, but saw that wiped out by video replay.

  Flyers Notes Sergei Bobrovsky is being a good soldier. After being the Flyers' primary goalie and having a very strong rookie season in 2010-11, Bobrovsky is now Ilya Bryzgalov 's understudy. There is a chance Bobrovsky will get his first start of the season Tuesday night in Ottawa. Coach Peter Laviolette , who used Bryzgalov in the first four games (3-0-1), said he wouldn't announce his decision until the morning skate. "I'm ready for every game," Bobrovsky said.

A four-run seventh inning by Ottawa broke a 2-2 tie last night as the Lynx defeated Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 7-3, in the International League. Starter Tommy Greene, on a rehabilitation assignment from the Phillies for a right-shoulder injury, gave up three hits, one run, one walk and had six strikeouts in four innings. He did not figure in the decision for the Red Barons. Carlos Perez (5-2) got the win for Ottawa, while Paul Fletcher (3-9) took the loss for the Barons. Ted Wood hit his 10th homer of the season as part of Ottawa's seventh-inning rally.

He has gotten far more ice time after practice than during games. The smile he once wore has faded. About the only thing that has not changed for Alexandre Daigle is his status, which is uncertain. Daigle has scored only two goals this season - not what Flyers general manager Bob Clarke had in mind when he traded for the forward in January. The Ottawa Senators got Pat Falloon and then-rookie Vinny Prospal. Falloon has six goals, 11 points for his new club, Edmonton; Prospal has four goals, 14 points in Ottawa.

Marlon Henderson went 4 for 6 with three doubles and four RBIs and Matt Beech struck out nine in 5 2/5 innings for his fifth straight win as Reading crushed New Haven, 12-2, last night to end an Eastern League losing streak at three games. OTTAWA 6, SCRANTON 2 OTTAWA - Tony Barron and Robert Lukachyk hit first-inning homers to spark Ottawa. TRENTON 4, HARRISBURG 3

NEW YORK - The New York Rangers have survived their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series, finally taking advantage of home ice. Marc Staal and Dan Girardi scored their first goals of the series in the second period as the top-seeded Rangers defeated No. 8 Ottawa, 2-1, in Thursday's Eastern Conference win at Madison Square Garden. Thus the Rangers took the grueling series four games to three and advance to face the seventh-seeded Washington Capitals in the second round.

The Flyers know whom they'll play and where they'll play. The biggest question of the second round has yet to be answered. How will they play? The story of the first round was the vicious, illegal hits delivered at high-value targets and the NHL's lame attempts to deter them. Finally, after Phoenix's Raffi Torres received a heavy, 25-game suspension for launching himself at the skull of Chicago's Marian Hossa, the ugly hits finally seemed to taper off. Did that do it?

BRAD RICHARDS scored the go-ahead goal and Derek Stepan had a goal and two assists as the top-seeded New York Rangers staved off elimination with a 3-2 victory against the Senators in Ottawa on Monday night. The series heads back to New York Thursday night for the first Game 7 in any sport at Madison Square Garden in 17 years. Not even the return of Daniel Alfredsson, who missed three games with a concussion, in front of the fired-up home crowd at Scotiabank Place could help the eighth-seeded Senators complete the upset.

Brad Richards scored the go-ahead goal and Derek Stepan had a goal and two assists as the top-seeded New York Rangers staved off elimination with a 3-2 victory against Senators on Monday night in Ottawa. The series heads back to New York Thursday night for the first Game 7 in any sport at Madison Square Garden in 17 years. Not even the return of Daniel Alfredsson, who missed three games with a concussion, in front of the fired-up home crowd at Scotiabank Place could help the eighth-seeded Senators complete the upset.

THE OPPORTUNISTIC Ottawa Senators find themselves tied 2-2 with the New York Rangers without ever leading in regulation play. Kyle Turris scored at 2:42 of overtime to give Ottawa a 3-2 win Wednesday, the Senators' second extra-period win in the series. Turris, acquired from Phoenix during the season, took a drop pass from Jim O'Brien and snapped a wrist shot past Henrik Lundqvist's glove from the left faceoff circle. "I've just lived every kid's Stanley Cup dream," Turris said.

Robin Lehner stopped 32 shots for his first career shutout and Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal, lifting surging Ottawa to a 1-0 win over host Boston on Tuesday night. It was the Senators' first victory in five games against the Bruins this season. With the win, the Senators moved one point behind the Northeast Division-leading Bruins, who have played four fewer games than Ottawa. Ottawa won for the sixth time in seven games and sent the Bruins to their fourth loss in six. The 20-year old Lehner, playing in just his 11th NHL game, benefited from some strong defensive play in front of him. His teammates blocked 10 shots in the opening two periods and limited most of Boston's shots to beyond the faceoff circles.

ROBIN LEHNER stopped 32 shots for his first career shutout and Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal, lifting visiting Ottawa to a 1-0 win over the Boston Boston last night. It was the Senators' first victory in five games with the Bruins this season. With the win, the Senators moved one point behind the Northeast Division-leading Bruins, who have played four fewer games than Ottawa. The Senators won for the sixth time in seven games and sent the Bruins to their fourth loss in six. "I think the last game we played them at home, we played a little too cautious," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said.

Erik Karlsson had a simple explanation for Ottawa's dominant performance Monday. "Everyone from offense to defense did the job today," the all-star defenseman said. Sure looks that way. Karlsson had two goals and fellow defensemen Chris Phillips and Brian Lee also scored to lead the visiting Senators to a 6-0 victory over the New York Islanders. Ottawa has won three straight and four of five. The Senators (31-22-8) moved within two points of first-place Boston in the Northeast Division and one point behind Pittsburgh and the Flyers a for fifth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

MIKE COMRIE, who twice scored at least 30 goals in a season, retired from the NHL yesterday after a third hip operation in 5 years. The 31-year-old center announced his retirement 2 weeks after his latest hip procedure, saying in a statement he was no longer able to "manage the rigors of NHL play. " Comrie was limited to 127 games over the last three seasons. Comrie played 589 regular-season games with Edmonton, the Flyers, Phoenix, Ottawa, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh.

OTTAWA - Even with the final score still in doubt, Claude Giroux devoted an entire shift in the third period of last night's NHL All-Star Game to emptying Scott Hartnell's wallet. After all, it was for a good cause. And at $4.2 million per season, Hartnell can afford it. No matter the cause, Giroux' deliberate attempts to trip up his own teammate and linemate made for an interesting game within the game. Hartnell pledged to donate $1,000 to charity for each time he hit the ice yesterday, as part of his ongoing #HartnellDown campaign that began with a fan on Twitter.