St. Louis Blues 1, Ottawa Senators 3 FINAL

OTTAWA (AP) _ Marian Hossa's acceleration leaves defenders in his wake, and his teammates watching in wonder.

Hossa scored two of Ottawa's three first-period goals, leading the Senators to a 3-1 victory Tuesday night over the St. Louis Blues.

Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson scored his 25th goal 1:34 in, and Josh Langfeld assisted on both of Hossa's goals later in the period _ including his second on a breakaway that put the Senators up 3-0 at 16:55.

``He just jumped off the bench _ he's standing still and he just takes off,'' Alfredsson said of Hossa. ``He's probably the quickest guy in the league, from standing still and just taking off. He's so explosive. He's fun to watch.''

The Senators, who had lost four of five, ended a season-high three-game losing streak.

``It was a really important win for us, especially after the All-Star break,'' Hossa said. ``The guy's are rested up and ready to go, and tonight we got a pretty good performance from everybody.''

Mike Danton scored midway through the third period for St. Louis, which ended an eight-game winless streak last Thursday with a 2-1 victory in Calgary. The Blues have just three points in their last 10 games (1-8-1).

Blues goalie Chris Osgood stopped just eight of the first 11 shots.

``They've got a really quick team, and they're one of the best _ if not the best offensive team in the league,'' Osgood said. ``I mean, we really played right into their hands, the way we started.''

Replaced by Reinhard Divis for the final 3:05 of the first period, Osgood returned for the second and stopped the final 20 shots to complete the game.

``I think we wanted to settle our team down and I liked how he responded in the last couple of periods,'' Blues coach Joel Quenneville said. ``He settled himself down and we were a little better in front of him _ not much, but his game was better the last couple of periods.''

Senators goalie Patrick Lalime made 22 saves as he recovered from a bad outing. He allowed five goals for the fourth time in six games last Thursday to blow a four-goal lead in a 5-4 overtime loss to Toronto.

``We came out pretty strong again, and this time we made sure they weren't going to get back in,'' Lalime said.

Alfredsson, who had two goals and one assist in Sunday's All-Star game, opened the scoring when he found the puck at his feet in a scramble in front of the net. With a little unwitting help from Osgood, who was trying to guide his defensemen, he swiped it into the left side of the goal.

``(Osgood) was screaming 'In your feet! In your feet!' And I looked down and it was right on my stick, and I was able to whack it and it hit the post and went in,'' Alfredsson said.

Hossa, who missed the All-Star game after he was struck on the visor by a puck against Toronto, made it 2-0. Hossa cut around Osgood across the goalmouth and used his reach to steer the puck past the goalie for his 24th goal.

He used his breakaway speed moments later to put Ottawa up by three. Hossa easily pulled away from defenseman Murray Baron to drive in and beat Osgood, tying Alfredsson for the team goal-scoring lead with 25.

Danton spoiled Lalime's shutout bid 9:21 into the third period when he redirected Bryce Salvador's shot for his seventh goal.