NHL: Ottawa 3, St. Louis 2

OTTAWA, March 20 (UPI) -- Jason Spezza gave Ottawa the lead in the second period Thursday and the Senators held on to defeat St. Louis 3-2.

Ottawa won for the fourth time in five games, getting goals from Antoine Vermette and Christoph Schubert along with 24 saves from Martin Gerber.

The Senators kept pace with Montreal, remaining three points behind the Canadiens for both the top spot in the Northeast Division and the Eastern Conference.

St. Louis is 1-6-1 on its current nine-game road trip -- the longest in franchise history.

Both teams scored twice in the first period and Ottawa produced the last goal of the game 7:39 into the second when Dany Heatley fired a slapshot that Spezza deflected over the outstretched glove of Hannu Toivonen.