Brian Elliott made 19 saves to help Ottawa win for the 13th time in 14 games, and hand Washington its second straight loss after a team-record 14-game winning streak. On Wednesday night in Montreal, the Canadiens beat the Capitals 6-5 in overtime.
Chris Neil scored late in the second to draw Ottawa even at four. Milan Michalek and Daniel Alfredsson also scored for the Senators, up 3-1 after the first.
Alexander Semin scored his third goal of the game — his 29th of the season — 13:37 into the third to draw Washington within one.
Semin scored goals 42 seconds apart in the second to give the Capitals a 4-3 lead. Tomas Fleischmann and Jeff Schultz also scored for the Capitals.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 22 shots in his first game in more than two months.
Kovalev assisted on Phillips' seventh goal 2:23 into the third that put the Senators up 5-4. The Russian winger made it 6-4 with his 16th goal on a power play at 7:36.
Semin scored an unassisted goal with 6:23 remaining to make it a one-goal game.
Spezza had three points in the opening period, including his 11th goal in his last 11 games to open the scoring 6:03 in.
Michalek, who assisted on Kovalev's power-play goal in the third, scored his 20th to put the Senators up 2-0 at 10:09.
After Fleischmann drew Washington to 2-1 with his 18th goal 17 minutes into the first, Alfredsson restored Ottawa's two-goal lead when he put a shot from the right side past Varlamov for his 17th goal on a power play at 19:53.
Schultz scored his third goal 6:39 into the second. Semin scored at 15:17 and again at 15:59 as the Capitals scored three straight goals in the middle period to take a 4-3 lead. Neil drew Ottawa even at four with 1:56 left in the second period.
Notes
Both teams' Olympians were introduced prior to the game, five each from Washington and Ottawa. Capitals headed to Vancouver include Varlamov, Alex Ovechkin and Semin (Russia), Fleischmann (Czech Republic) and Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden). Alfredsson is making his fourth straight appearance for Sweden. Michalek and Filip Kuba (Czech Republic), Jarkko Ruutu (Finland) and Anton Volchenkov (Russia) will also be going from the Senators. … Stephen Leach holds the record for the fastest two goals by a Capitals player. Leach scored twice in 10 seconds in a 7-3 win over Pittsburgh on Nov. 23, 1990.