Maple Leafs 5, Senators 4

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OTTAWA - Kyle Wellwood, Alex Steen, Darcy Tucker, Jiri Tlusty and Matt Stajan all scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who gave their playoff hopes a boost with a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.

Daniel Alfredsson, Cory Stillman, Martin Lapointe, Dany Heatley scored for the Senators, and Martin Gerber stopped 29 shots.

The Leafs have won four straight against the Senators, and the teams will meet once more in the regular season. Toronto is 12th in the Eastern Conference and trails Philadelphia and Boston, tied at the post-season cutoff, by four points

Alfredsson opened the scoring 2:56 in when he caught goalie Vesa Toskala out of position.

Toronto tied it on Wellwood's power-play goal 4:14 into the second and took the lead when Steen was left alone in the slot, beating Gerber low glove side at 12:39.

Ottawa then scored three goals in a span of 2:27, tallying twice on the power play.

Stillman tied it 2-2 when he got two chances at the side of the net. Just 58 seconds later, the Leafs were caught out of position and Lapointe was left alone to beat Toskala.

Heatley made it 4-2 with his 37th goal. The Leafs salvaged the period, however, scoring with 54 seconds remaining when Tucker put in a rebound.

The Leafs rode the momentum into the third and scored twice in a span of 41 seconds to regain the lead.

Poor defensive play by the Senators allowed Tlusty to draw out Gerber and beat him on the backhand. Seconds later, a bad giveaway cost Ottawa when Stajan made it 5-4.

Ottawa had a power play in the final minutes and pressured to get the tying goal, but Heatley, who fired a shot with seconds left, hit the post just after the whistle.

Ottawa lost Chris Kelly near the seven-minute mark when he injured his left foot during a scrum in front of Gerber.

Notes: With his 10th consecutive start, Gerber tied his career high, set when he playing with the Carolina Hurricanes ... Attendance was 20,183, the 31st straight sellout at Scotiabank Place ... The Senators are in Montreal to face the Canadiens on Monday night (7:30 p.m., A-Channel, Team 1200). The Habs widened their Northeast Division lead over Ottawa to five points by edging the Boston Bruins 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night.