Senators 6, Penguins 4 .

OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators were in the right frame of mind as they headed to the dressing room after a big second period.

Jason Spezza had two goals and two assists, and Jared Cowen also had four points to lead Ottawa to a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

Daniel Alfredsson scored his 398th NHL goal and added two assists, and Erik Karlsson also had three points.

Colin Greening scored 25 seconds into the second, and Zenon Konopka netted the Senators' fifth goal of the period with 5.7 seconds left, increasing Ottawa's lead to 5-3 just four seconds into a power play.

"We got a big goal from Z on a play right at the end of the period, then we come in feeling good about ourselves," Spezza said. "It was good to have that break to talk about how we wanted to play against these guys with the lead."

Karlsson recorded his 100th career NHL point with his third assist of the period on Konopka's goal.

Pittsburgh's Steve Sullivan had a goal and two assists as the teams combined for eight goals in the middle period after a scoreless first. Matt Niskanen and Evgeni Malkin scored power-play goals 1:07 apart to draw the Penguins even at 3-3.

Chris Kunitz scored with 1:02 left in the third.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby missed his fourth straight game because of a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms. He is out indefinitely, and the Penguins are 1-3 since he was sidelined again.

Alex Auld stopped 32 shots for Ottawa in a matchup of backup goalies.

Pittsburgh's Brent Johnson made 14 saves through the first two periods and then was replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury, who allowed Spezza's second goal of the game 12:23 into the third. Fleury finished with four saves.

Cowen scored the seventh goal of the second, 13:20 into the period, to put Ottawa up 4-3.

"We did a lot of good things offensively," Alfredsson said. "They scored two quick power-play goals on two chances there which were questionable calls. That was tough, but we got a fourth one right after - and that's huge - to get our momentum back."

Konopka made it a two-goal lead with his third goal, scoring off the faceoff after Alexandre Picard's high-sticking penalty with 10 seconds left.

Sullivan drew Pittsburgh even at 1-1 with his sixth goal at 1:35.

Spezza scored his 11th to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead as the teams combined for three goals in the first 2:04.

Alfredsson made it 3-1 at 6:45 when he scored for the second game in a row.

The Penguins needed a total of 15 seconds of power-play time to get even.

Niskanen made it 3-2 at 11:07 with a slap shot past Auld from the left point seven seconds after Chris Neil was called for hooking.

Malkin needed eight seconds after Alfredsson was sent off for high-sticking to convert the Penguins' next opportunity with the man advantage at 12:14.

NOTES: Johnson took Karlsson's slap shot off his mask 20 seconds into the game. ... Senators LW Milan Michalek missed his second game because of a concussion.