Senators 4, Hurricanes 2

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OTTAWA - Dany Heatley scored his 30th goal of the season Tuesday night and the Ottawa Senators chased Carolina goalie Cam Ward out of the nets after one period in a 4-2 victory.

Carolina outshot Ottawa 43-22, but Ward allowed three goals in nine shots in the first period.

For Heatley, it's the fifth time in his seven NHL seasons that he's reached the 30-goal mark and fourth year in a row.

Heatley and Chris Kelly scored goals 46 seconds apart in the first period for Ottawa. The Senators had lost three straight, falling behind early in each game.

"We talked about it a lot the last couple of days," Heatley said. "We came out, scored some goals and took the momentum right away."

Mike Comrie, acquired from the New York Islanders along with defenceman Chris Campoli in a trade last Friday, also scored as the Senators struck three times in the opening 20 minutes to chase Ward from the game.

Patrick Eaves and Anton Babchuk scored for Carolina, which had its three-game win streak stopped. The Hurricanes remain in ninth in the East, one point behind the Sabres and Panthers.

"It would have been a good night for us to get some points on all those teams that we're chasing," Eaves said. "We got a lot of shots, but didn't score on our opportunities."

Jason Spezza also scored for the Senators, who halted a three-game winless slide.

Daniel Alfredsson and Antoine Vermette each chipped in with a pair of assists and Alex Auld recorded 41 saves.

Ward, making his ninth straight start for Carolina, was replaced by Michael Leighton, who made 12 saves the rest of the way.

With Comrie, in his second stint in Ottawa, and Campoli making their first appearance at home, the Senators came close on a couple of chances early before Heatley gave them the lead just past the 14-minute mark when he converted a 2-on-1 opportunity with Alfredsson.

That touched off a flurry of goals over the next 46 seconds.

Before Heatley's goal could even be announced, Eaves tied the score when he fired a shot from a bad angle that struck Auld in the side of the pad and bounced in for the former Senators' third goal of the season.

But 29 seconds after that, Vermette forced a turnover as Carolina tried to break out of its own zone. He found Kelly alone in front of the net, who scored his seventh goal of the season.

"That showed a lot of resilience on our part," Auld said.

With 10.1 seconds left in the first, Comrie recorded his eighth goal and first back in an Ottawa uniform when he faked a slapshot and slipped the puck through Ward's pads.

"It was nice to see that one go in because you want to fit in right away, especially in a win," Comrie said.

Ward was replaced by Leighton to start the second and Spezza welcomed him by slipping a bad-angle shot past him on the power play to make it 4-1 less than two minutes into the period.

Babchuk cut the lead to 4-2 with the Hurricanes on a power play late in the period.

"We had a lot of shots," Eaves said. "Those crazy 40 seconds (in the first). It would have been nice to not let them score back on us."

Notes: With Senators general manager Bryan Murray stating Monday he has too many bodies available, defensemen Brendan Bell, Christoph Schubert and Alexandre Picard were all healthy scratches ... The Senators continue their eight-game homestand on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks (7:30 p.m., Rogers Sportsnet, Team 1200). Fewer than 2,000 tickets remain for the game.