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Earlier this month, it seemed the New Jersey Devils' lead in the Atlantic Division was untouchable, and the best the Penguins could hope for was to finish second in the division and fourth in the Eastern Conference.

Now, after a 4-3 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators at Mellon Arena on Sunday night, the Penguins sit just two points behind the Devils and the No. 2 seed in the East.

Jarkko Ruutu scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Penguins the second point after they gave up a one-goal lead in the third period for a tie game and overtime.

Defenseman Ryan Whitney and Sidney Crosby each scored on power plays, and Maxime Talbot added the third goal as the Penguins (41-21-10) moved into a tie with the Senators with 92 points.

The Penguins have 10 games left, starting tonight against the New York Rangers. The Senators have nine left and play Tuesday at the St. Louis Blues. The Penguins and Senators play each other one more time this season.

"It's unfortunate giving them a point, but to get the two points and tie them points-wise with a game in hand, it's a pretty good situation," Whitney said.

Going into the game, the Senators were in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and the Penguins fifth, separated by just one point.

Each team had won one game in the season series.

The last time the two teams met, the Penguins orchestrated a stunning third-period comeback from a 4-1 deficit to win in a shootout.

Last night, they only needed to protect a one-goal lead after Whitney scored late in the second period.

Crosby's play along the boards to keep control of the puck paid off after he got a pass back to Sergei Gonchar, who sent it back to Crosby for a quick pass to Whitney sneaking down for the backdoor goal at 17:05.

The score was tied for most of the game until that point.

But after a series of near misses and a chance for a two-man advantage for over a minute in the third period, the Penguins lost the lead with five minutes left to play.

Evgeni Malkin took a penalty for holding the stick a minute into a power play, and it was with him in the box that defenseman Wade Redden put a shot low on the ice through traffic. It went between Fleury's legs, hit the inside of his left leg and in.

It was the seventh time in the last 10 games that the Penguins have played past regulation to determine a winner.

"Obviously we'd like to win in regulation, but it happens," Crosby said. "That's just the way it's been going. It's pretty hard to avoid at this time of year, if you look not just at us but around the rest of the league, too. Teams are tight and they're fighting hard."

The Penguins got off to a good start, nearly scoring their 14th shorthanded goal of the season midway through the first period. The clock expired on a penalty to Rob Scuderi the second Talbot scored into a wide-open net to make it 1-0, so the goal counted as even strength.

But the lead was short-lived.

Just 26 seconds later, Senators forward Antoine Vermette took a shot that Fleury stopped, but neither he nor his teammates could corral the puck skidding in front of the net. Vermette came in and tied the score, 1-1, at 11:10.

The Senators outshot the Penguins, 14-6, in the first period, and after the second the advantage was up to 23-12.

Crosby scored a power-play goal at 4:03 after settling down a pass from Whitney and backhanding it past goaltender Ray Emery to give the Penguins the lead again. But, they couldn't hold on.

Daniel Alfredsson deflected a shot from Joe Corvo at the point to make it 2-2 a minute later.

"I think we need to learn from that," Ruutu said. "We made a few mistakes right after we scored, and they came right back at us. It's a huge shift after the goal you score, and twice it happened that we gave them a goal."

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