OTTAWA -- Mike Condon sure has a funny way of saying thanks.

The Senators goalie has two reasons to be grateful to the Pittsburgh Penguins: They claimed him when the Montreal Canadiens put him on waivers in early October, and then they traded him to Ottawa for a late draft pick in early November. With both moves, they saved the 26-year-old from going to the minors.

In return for saving his NHL career, Condon turned in a gem against the Penguins at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night, making 29 saves in a 4-1 victory.

The win improved Condon's record to 10-6-3 for Ottawa, where he has inherited the No. 1 job while Craig Anderson is away on personal leave.

"I've got nothing but respect for that organization," said Condon. "If it wasn't for them, I would be in St John's (Newfoundland) in the AHL right now. If they didn't claim me I would have been in trouble, so I owe a lot to them. Great group of guys, they treated me really well over there. But when you step on the ice, there's no friends."

The Penguins, who fell 5-2 to the Capitals in Washington on Wednesday, lost back-to-back game in regulation for the first time in 90 games.

"We would have liked to see that streak continue, but I think that sometimes you need to lose a couple in order to play better," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. "I think we haven't deserved to win the last couple of games. Sometimes when you're playing well you get some bounces. Good teams find ways to win when they're not at their best. We didn't deserve to win the last couple so we've got to find a way to get back on track here a bit, and maybe this will be something that will make us realize that we've got to have better."

Bobby Ryan, Mike Hoffman, Tom Pyatt and Mark Stone scored for the Senators (22-14-4), while Conor Sheary replied for the Penguins (26-10-5).

Matt Murray, who returned from a lower body injury to play his first game since Dec. 28, made 29 saves for Pittsburgh. His record slipped to 13-4-1.

"I felt a little rusty early," said Murray. "I felt better and better as the game went on, but definitely a little bit of rust, but that's going to happen. It's been a little while since I was in there."

The special teams were key, as the Senators went 2 for 5 on the power play while Pittsburgh was 0 for 3.

It was shortly after the Penguins' last minor penalty late in the third period that Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was ejected with a game misconduct.

"I was probably a little bit surprised, but it is what it is," said Sullivan, who refused to reveal what words he used to get tossed. "That's between the refs and the coaches, and that's where it will stay."

The Senators, who scored three power play goals in an 8-5 road loss to the Penguins last month, went 2 for 3 with the man advantage in the opening period when Ryan scored his eighth and Hoffman added his 12th. They increased the lead just past the midway mark of the second period on Pyatt's sixth goal and second in two games.

"We stuck with it the whole game," said Senators captain Erik Karlsson, who had two assists. "We've been struggling this year with having the lead going into the second, and I think we cleaned most of it up this game. They're a good team, they've got their quality scoring chances, and we got some big stops when we needed it. I think we just stuck with it all the way to the end."

For their part, the Penguins say they didn't generate nearly enough until it was too late.

"I think they had the momentum for most of the first period and a lot of the second period," said Murray. "They played a hard game and they played pretty solid in the neutral zone and that's a big part of their system. They executed it really well and our turnovers, we kind of fell into that.

"We need more urgency. It's never about what they're doing. Nobody is really coming up with any brilliant new concept in hockey these days. It's not so much what they do, it's about what we do. Get clears when we need to and I definitely got to make a save on a couple of those. I think that's all it comes down to is your will to get it done."

NOTES: Penguins C Eric Fehr was scratched for the first time since Dec. 16. He has seven points in 35 games. ... Penguins D David Warsofsky, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday, was also scratched. ... Senators D Fredrik Claesson was scratched. The team's seventh defenseman, he was told to move out of his hotel on the weekend. Claesson has only played two games since Nov. 13. ... The Senators host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday ... The Penguins are in Detroit to play the Red Wings on Saturday.