Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury makes a first period save on a shot by Ottawa Senators' Jason Spezza. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)

Despite the best efforts of Marc-Andre Fleury, the Pittsburgh Penguins' hot streak was cooled Saturday afternoon in a 4-3 in a shootout loss to the visiting Ottawa Senators.

A wild overtime period was set up with just 5.8 seconds left in the third, when Sergei Gonchar took his second penalty of the period, giving the Senators a 4-on-3 advantage to start with in OT.

Fleury was the Penguins' best penalty-killer in the extra frame, stopping 11 of the 36 shots he faced in the game in that period, almost single-handedly pushing his team into the shootout round.

However, Mike Comrie scored in the fifth round of the shootout to give the Senators (28-30-10) their fifth win in six games. Daniel Alfredsson also scored in the tiebreaker for Ottawa, while Sidney Crosby replied for the Pens.

"We didn't quit," Comrie said. "The third period was well-executed, and in overtime I think we outchanced them by a few chances. Anytime you get a win, especially when you're down a couple of goals going into the third period, you realize your character."

Following a seven-game winning streak capped by a pair of shootout victories, Pittsburgh (36-26-8) has lost both of its last two games in shootouts.

By earning at least a point in 12 of their last 13 contests, the Penguins have climbed into sixth place in the Eastern Conference heading into Saturday night's action.

"We had a two-goal lead and got away from our game a little bit and didn't finish them off and let them back in it," said Crosby, who has at least one point in nine consecutive games. "We left it up to chance, and they had the better shooters today."

Pens begin long homestand

The Penguins, who are 9-1-3 under interim coach Dan Bylsma, opened the scoring just over six minutes into first period on their seventh shot of the game, an Eric Godard wrister that beat Senators goalie Brian Elliot.

Two-and-a-half minutes later, Ottawa's Chris Campoli knotted the game up with his ninth tally of the season.

Just over six-and-a-half minutes into the second period, Crosby put his team in front 2-1 after converting a great pass by Mark Eaton through the slot to notch his 27th goal of the season.

Adding to the Senators' second-period misery was Tyler Kennedy, who scored on a 2-on-1 opportunity after receiving a Matt Cooke pass to make it 3-1 for the Penguins.

Skipping to the middle of the third period, Dany Heatley got his stick high enough to strike Pittsburgh defenceman Gonchar in the face, ending an Ottawa power play by taking a double-minor.

Despite the extended penalty kill, a re-energized Ottawa squad fended off the Pittsburgh man-advantage and with eight minutes left in the game, Nick Foligno beat Fleury top-shelf on the blocker-side to make things interesting at 3-2.

A minute and 54 seconds following Foligno's strike, Chris Phillips followed up with a goal of his own, tying the game at three with a melee goal in front of the Pittsburgh net and setting up the eventual shootout win.

The Penguins' loss comes in the first game of an eight-game home stand that sees them host the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins in a Sunday matinee game.

The Senators will next match up against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, a game that begins Ottawa's three-game home stand.