Salo's Hat Trick Stuns Igloo

The Ottawa Senators have established themselves as one of the NHL's better teams, and they finally cleared a long-standing hurdle in Pittsburgh.

Sami Salo scored three goals for his first career hat trick and Magnus Arvedson scored twice as the Senators beat the Penguins 6-4 Tuesday night.

The Senators overcame a 3-0 deficit for their first win in Pittsburgh. The Senators had been 0-13-3 at the Civic Arena since joining the NHL in 1992. They are unbeaten in their last five road games (4-0-1).

"This year is kind of a new year," goalie Damian Rhodes said. "All the things that were in the past are staying in the past now. We're creating some new things here."

Still, who expected that first-time win in Pittsburgh to come from a three-goal deficit?

"It didn't feel like we were down three because we got our first two so fast," Rhodes said.

The Penguins lost a substantial lead for the second consecutive game. They led 3-1 at Buffalo 11 minutes into the third period on Sunday and lost the game 4-3 in overtime.

"When you have a team down and out, you've got to jump on them," Pittsburgh forward Matthew Barnaby said. "You've got to make sure the game is out of reach. The good teams will chip away and chip away, get a goal here and there. Finally they're back in it, then they won it."

Arvedson scored both of his goals on breakaways. The first, his third short-handed goal of the season, broke a 3-3 tie at 18:08 of the second period and capped a stretch of four goals in 12:14

Arvedson got control of the puck and powered his way past Martin Straka. Goalie Peter Skudra committed too early and Arvedson lifted the shot over him. He scored again at 14:10, his 20th. That provided a two-goal lead that was needed when Brad Werenka scored for Pittsburgh just 34 seconds later.

"We won the game but this was a not a good game," Arvedson said. "There wee too many chances. That was not Senators hockey."

Salo sealed the win when he scored an empty-netter with seven seconds left in the game. Salo doubled his season goal total with the hat trick.

"I never scored three goals, not even in junior," Salo said. "I had two a couple of times but I'm not a big goal scorer. To get three, it just feels unbelievable."

Less than two minutes after Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead, Vaclav Prospal started Ottawa's comeback with a goal at 5:56 of the second. Prospal deflected Wade Redden's shot for his eighth goal.

Salo got his first goal at 6:24. Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Moran made a bad clearing pass and Salo got the puck, moved around Martin Sonnenberg and beat Skudra from 25 feet.

The Penguins thwarted a 3-on-1 rush at 12:33 but Daniel Alfredsson got the puck behind the net and spotted Salo, who put a quick 40-footer past Skudra's glove to tie the score at 3.

NHL scoring leader Jaromir Jagr assisted on Pittsburgh goals by Rob Brown and Kip Miller in the first period. Brown scored his ninth on a power play at 8:55 as Martin Straka sent a quick pass through the crease past Salo. Miller's 19th came as a power play was expiring at 17:53 and ended a three-way passing play by Jagr and Matthew Barnaby.

Jagr scored his 37th at 4:01 of the second to put the Penguins ahead 3-0. Jagr skated down the left side and wound up for a 30-footer that goalie Damian Rhodes partially blocked.

The Penguins are in a 1-3-3 slump and are 6-10-6 since they won 10 consecutive games.

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