<p>Slava Kozlov's fifth career hat trick left the Ottawa Senators in a rare drought.</p><p>Kozlov's third goal gave Atlanta its first lead with 8:09 left in regulation as the Thrashers beat Ottawa 5-4 on Wednesday night to hand the Senators their first five-game losing streak in 10 years.</p><p>Once again, the Senators couldn't hold a lead. Goalie Martin Gerber continued to struggle as he fell to 2-6-1 while stopping only 26 of 31 shots.</p><p>The Senators blew 3-1 and 4-2 advantages. It was the third straight game that Ottawa blew a lead.</p><p>"I felt pretty confident, but I couldn't finish it," Gerber said. "They have a very high-skilled team."</p><p>The Senators, who last lost five straight games from Feb. 22-March 9, 1996, led 2-0 in a 3-2 loss to Carolina on Saturday night and couldn't hold a 3-0 lead in a 4-3 loss to Washington in overtime on Monday night.</p><p>"We have to find some way to break this cycle," said Ottawa's Joe Corvo. "We have to keep working. I know that sounds stupid."</p><p>The Thrashers pulled even at 4-4 on Ilya Kovalchuk's wrist shot past Gerber about four minutes into the third period. Kozlov's third goal of the game about 12 minutes into the period gave Atlanta its first lead.</p><p>Kozlov gave credit to Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 19 shots in a relief role, shutting out the Senators for the last period and a half.</p><p>"Kari came in and he gave us a chance," Kozlov said. "He made some really good saves to keep us in it when we were down two goals."</p><p>Ottawa coach Bryan Murray planned to give Gerber a rest against Atlanta, but backup goalie Ray Emery suffered a sprained wrist in practice Wednesday.</p><p>Murray, already under pressure in Ottawa, said his team gave a good effort.</p><p>"That's as hard-working game as we've had this year," Murray said. "We had lots of scoring chances. I never talk to the guys after we lose a game in the two years I've been here, and tonight I did. I thought they played extremely hard, very focused and didn't give up many scoring chances at all."</p><p>The Thrashers, who lead the Southeast Division, won their fourth straight game despite changing goalies midway through the game.</p><p>Johan Hedberg, who had allowed only 2.01 goals per game in three straight wins, was pulled after Ottawa took a 4-2 lead midway through the second period. Hedberg stopped 15 of 19 shots before giving way to Lehtonen.</p><p>"I got out there and got lucky in the first two minutes," Lehtonen said. "After that, I found my game and hockey was fun again. ... It's great to have two good goalies on the team."</p><p>The Thrashers were called for four first-period penalties, providing the Senators repeated opportunities to shake out of their power-play slump.</p><p>Ottawa was 0-for-16 on the power play in its last three games. The Senators failed on two power-play opportunities against Atlanta before Daniel Alfredsson broke the slump with a goal for a 2-1 lead.</p><p>Chris Kelly's tip-in about 6 minutes into the second period pushed the Senators' lead to 3-1.</p><p>Ottawa's first penalty, a holding call on Anton Volchenkov, came 7:36 into the period, and less than a minute later a delay call against Andrej Meszaros gave Atlanta a two-man advantage.</p><p>Only 14 seconds later, Kozlov, positioned in front of the net, tipped in a pass from Marian Hossa to cut Ottawa's lead to 3-2.</p><p>Antoine Vermette's short-handed goal at the end of Atlanta's power play gave Ottawa a 4-2 lead, prompting Thrashers coach Bob Hartley to change goalies.</p><p>"We got a great run from Johan, but after the fourth goal I felt Johan was not as sharp as he had been," Hartley said. "The first 40 minutes were not the kind of hockey that we can play, and I felt that by changing the goalies we could try to flip the game around."</p><p>Kozlov's second goal of the second period cut Ottawa's lead to 4-3.</p><p>The Senators opened the scoring in the first period with Jason Spezza's sixth goal. Atlanta answered with a short-handed breakaway goal by Brad Larsen for a 1-1 tie.</p><p>Notes:@ Emery was in uniform one day after suffering a sprained wrist in practice. ... Kozlov's last hat track came against Ottawa on Jan. 2, 2006. ... Hossa had three assists. ... The Thrashers have hat tricks in back-to-back games for the first time in team history. Kovalchuk had three goals in Monday's 5-3 win over Boston.</p>
