Pep talk, play pump up Senators

OTTAWA — The Senators got pumped up for a comeback with a good dressing room pep talk and dominant special-teams play.

Martin Havlat and Jason Spezza scored power-play goals 1:07 apart early in the third period and Mike Fisher added a short-handed goal as Ottawa rallied to a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opener of the Eastern Conference playoff series Friday night.

Daniel Alfredsson scored into an empty net with 1:02 remaining and Ray Emery made 35 saves for the Senators in his postseason debut.

"The boys actually got a bit more talkative between the second and third," Emery said. "It was pretty quiet at the start and then the guys started saying, 'We've got to do this,' and, 'We've got to start playing with a bit more desperation.' It was exciting to see it because we talked about it and we actually went out and did it."

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be Sunday in Ottawa.

Emery, who drew an assist on Spezza's go-ahead goal 6:13 into the third, has carried the load for the Senators since Dominik Hasek was injured during the Olympics. He won 12 games in March to tie an NHL record for wins in a month.

"Experience doesn't mean very much the way he played tonight," Senators coach Bryan Murray said.

Vincent Lecavalier opened the scoring on a two-man advantage late in the first, and Tampa Bay — which outshot Ottawa 16-11 in a fast-paced opening period — held a 1-0 lead through 40 minutes.

"They played a terrific first period," Murray said. "I thought they stretched us really well and moved the puck and looked very creative, but you don't lose by one goal against in this building. We've got the ability to score some goals."

Havlat, limited to 18 games this season because of injuries, tied it during Ottawa's fifth power play at 5:06 of the third.

The Czech forward deked Lightning goalie John Grahame and fired a shot over his outstretched right pad. Havlat then skated to the left corner and jumped into the boards, banging his gloves against the glass as fans jumped to their feet to create a sea of red jerseys, shirts, jackets and Thunderstix in the crowd.

"I hadn't scored in a long time," said Havlat, who acknowledged that he had a couple of buddies sitting there.