Ottawa Senators' Daniel Alfredsson (L) celebrates his goal with teammate Erik Karlsson during the second period of their NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames in Calgary, Alberta, November 15, 2011.TODD KOROL/Reuters
Craig Anderson made 38 saves and Bobby Butler's first two goals of the season Tuesday night led the Ottawa Senators to a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Butler made a nice toe-drag move against defenceman Mark Giordano, then snapped a shot over the glove of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to break a 1-1 tie in the third period.
The 24-year-old forward added his second of the night at 16:12 to make it 3-1 after bursting down the right wing and firing a wrist shot inside the far goal post.
Anderson was also impressive after giving up four goals on six shots and getting pulled against Buffalo last Friday. He has since bounced back with two solid outings — stopping 31-of-33 shots in Ottawa's win Saturday night in Toronto.
Two of his best stops came in the second minute of the game when he stopped Lee Stempniak on close-in chances after he was set up in front by Paul Byron.
Daniel Alfredsson also scored for Ottawa (9-9-1). On the heels of a five-game winless streak, the Senators have won two games in a row as they reach the halfway point of their six-game road trip, which continues Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers.
Tom Kostopoulos scored the lone goal for Calgary (7-9-1). The Flames had won eight of their previous nine meetings with Ottawa dating back to 2004.
The Flames continue to struggle at home where they've won just twice in their last seven. They host the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
Miikka Kiprusoff had 29 saves for the Flames.
Ottawa opened the scoring at 18:44 of the second period.
When Jarome Iginla couldn't get the puck past Nick Foligno along the side boards, Foligno burst back into the Flames' end on the transition and sent a pass to Alfredsson driving to the slot. With Flames defenceman Chris Butler providing a screen, the Senators captain snapped a shot into the top corner for his fifth goal.
Before the second period ended, Calgary tied it.
Anderson went behind the net to play the puck but had his pass intercepted by Matt Stajan, who fired the puck into the slot where it was deflected in by Kostopoulos as he drove to the net while fending off Alfredsson.
Until the two late goals, most of the second period action revolved around Flames winger Curtis Glencross.
It was Glencross who split the Senators' defence forcing Erik Condra to take a slashing penalty, putting the Flames on a two-man advantage for 64 seconds.
Later in the period, Glencross intercepted Jason Spezza's pass and again charged up the ice on a partial breakaway. This time, as Chris Phillips moved in on him from behind, Glencross sent a neat drop pass back to a trailing Rene Bourque, who snapped a shot into Anderson's chest.
It was also another miserable night for the Flames' struggling power play unit. Calgary went 0-for-6 with the man advantage to fall to an NHL worst 2-for-40 on home ice. During the 64 second two-man advantage, they failed to record a shot on goal. Ottawa, meanwhile, was 0-for-4 with the power play.
Notes: Calgary LW David Moss (lower body) did not play, which opened up a spot in the line-up for Stajan, who was a healthy scratch the past two games. ... Iginla, Bourque, and Glencross share the team lead with five goals. Last place Columbus is the only other NHL team without a player with greater than five goals. ... The last time Ottawa scored greater than three goals against the Flames was in a 4-4 tie on Nov. 22, 2001. That was also the last time Alfredsson had scored against Calgary, having been blanked in the 10 games since, the second longest drought against any NHL opponent. Alfredsson has not scored in his last 12 games against New Jersey.