Phillips stands up to be counted for Senators

Alex Kunawicz

• Last Updated: November 20. 2009 8:53PM UAE / November 20. 2009 4:53PM GMT

Chris Phillips, in red, scored twice for the Senators. Blair Gable / Reuters

Chris Phillips celebrated his 800th regular-season NHL game with two goals as the Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2.

The defenceman went into the game with just one goal all season, but he found the net twice in as many minutes in the third period to give the Senators a 5-1 lead.

“I’m not expected to, for sure,” Phillips said about his goalscoring exploits.

“It feels good to do it and it felt like one of those high energy games, for us anyways, and it’s nice.”

There was some good news for the Penguins, though, as winger Maxime Talbot played his first game of the season and key defenceman Sergei Gonchar also returned to action after a wrist injury. “I think we have good additions back in our line-up,” said Bylsma. “It was our first game for Max in a long, long time and he brought his energy and he was effective, he was effective in the offensive zone and I liked that.

“Sergei, we asked him to play a lot of minutes tonight. It’s tough for him to get back in there but definitely our power play’s a bit more dangerous with him out there.”

Elsewhere, the Toronto Maple Leafs surrendered a three-goal lead as they lost 6-5 to the Carolina Hurricanes in a shoot-out in a game between the two worst teams in the league.

The Leafs led 5-4 after Ian White’s goal with 30 seconds remaining but Erik Cole scored with three seconds left to force the game into overtime.

“We definitely let one get away there,” Toronto forward Matt Stajan said.

“It’s been the story all year. Nothing’s going right. We score a goal late, it seems like things are going to turn, and they get one with seconds left. I’m kind of at a loss for words.

“You shouldn’t lose a hockey game where you have a 3-0 lead, let alone one with a lead with three seconds left.”

Chris Versteeg scored twice as Chicago thrashed Calgary 7-1 while Patrice Bergeron netted Boston’s winner in their 4-3 shoot-out victory over Atlanta.

Dallas netminder Marty Turco, with a career record of 14-2-2 against Columbus, suffered a rare loss against the Blue Jackets as they beat the Stars 4-1.

“I really liked our competitiveness all game,” Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We haven’t had a lot of success here.”

Several fights broke out in the first period, with 52 minutes in penalties.

akunawicz@thenational.ae