Category: Sports

OTTAWA, ON — Tim Stutzle hated the way he started Tuesday’s game, but felt pretty good about how things ended as the Ottawa Senators blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0.

Stutzle had a goal and an assist to lead the Senators and continues to impress all those around him.

The 20-year-old centre now has eight points, including five goals, in his last six games.

“Tim’s one of those guys who has confidence and makes plays that not a lot of players can make,” said teammate Claude Giroux. “Right now, he’s got confidence so we try to get him the puck and we try to get open for him.”

Stutzle felt he was terrible in the first, but was proud how he and his teammates rebounded for the final 40 minutes.

“I was awful in the first, that’s for sure,” said Stutzle. “We just talked in the intermission that we’ve got to stick with it. We had a couple of bad turnovers here and there, especially our line, but we tried to stick with it, play better in the second period and the third period and I think everyone in here did a great job.”

Derrick Brassard and Austin Watson also scored for Ottawa (18-17-3), while Anton Forsberg made 22 saves in his second consecutive start for his second career shutout.

With the shutout on the line Travis Hamonic blocked a Patrick Laine shot late in the game that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Obviously standing up for the team, for me,” said Forsberg of the sacrifice. “It’s not easy to eat one there, it’s 3-0 and it’s just the kind of character we have on this team and I think we show it’s just not that, it’s all over. We do a great job.”

Joonas Korpisalo, who didn’t get much offensive support, stopped 33 shots for Columbus (11-23-2), who have now lost eight straight road games.

Trailing 3-0 to start the third period, the Blue Jackets tried to make a game of it but struggled to generate any real offensive threat.

Frustration was evident as the losses play a toll on the Blue Jackets.

“Sometimes the best wins are coming from behind, and we just haven’t seemed to kind of ever find that this year,” said Cole Sillinger.

“We haven’t scored the most goals, right? We’re scoring one, two, maybe maximum three goals a game, and it’s tough when you get down 3-0 in the third and you’re trying to fight back. We just have to dig a little deeper and play together.”

Watson made it 4-0 scoring short-handed into an empty net late in the third.

Four minor penalties in the second cost the Blue Jackets with Ottawa scoring twice on the power play.

“(We) took four,” said Columbus coach Brad Larsen. “What do you expect is going to happen against a good power play? It’s just silly. They’re all penalties, every single one of them.”

Brassard opened the scoring with a power-play goal after he tipped a Jake Sanderson shot. Stutzle made it 2-0 after he grabbed a rolling puck and beat Korpisalo. Batherson made it 3-0 with the Senators second power-play goal of the period and his 13th of the season, 10 of which have come on the power play.

The game remained scoreless after the first period, but the Blue Jackets had the better chances of the two teams.

It was the start the Blue Jackets were looking for, but Forsberg was up to the challenge.

“For whatever reason they kind of surprised us,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. They’re a lot faster team than maybe we thought, their speed off the puck, but the response was great.”

The Senators are approaching the halfway mark of the season and are slowly gaining ground in the standings, but know consistency will be the only way to keep progressing.

“We’ve got to keep chipping away,” said Smith. “We want to get back in the pack, I think that’s our big goal. January’s a big month for us.”

OTTAWA, ON — Jacob Lucchini’s first NHL goal proved to be the winner in the Ottawa Senators 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night.

The loss snapped the Sabres (18-15-2) six-game winning streak.

Tim Stutzle scored the other two goals for the Senators (17-17-3), while Anton Forsberg was solid making 33 saves.

Zemgus Girgensons scored the lone goal for the Sabres. Craig Anderson stopped 33 shots.

Trailing 2-1 to start the third the Sabres pressed for the equalizer, but Forsberg was up to the challenge. Tage Thompson had a great chance at the halfway mark of the period, but rang a shot off the post.

Stutzle iced the game with an empty-net goal with just over one minute remaining in regulation.

The Sabres took advantage of a bad line change when Mattias Samuelsson made a long pass to Girgensons to send him in alone and he beat Forsberg with a wrist shot to tie the game 1-1.

Midway through the period Lucchini jumped on a loose puck in front and buried his first career NHL goal on the power play to make it 2-1.

In the opening minute of the game Stutzle looked to pass to Brady Tkachuk, but the puck bounced right back in his direction and he quickly beat Anderson just 47 seconds into the game.

The Sabres finished the first with a two-man advantage, but were unable to capitalize and trailed 1-0.

OTTAWA, ON – OTTAWA — If not for netminder Cam Talbot, Alex DeBrincat would never have had the chance to play hero.

DeBrincat scored the only goal of the shootout Tuesday night as the Ottawa Senators earned a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins, but a 49-save performance by Talbot, including 26 in the third period, was the main reason it got that far.

“It was an exciting game. Probably gave them a few too many looks but Talbs kept us in the game for the most part and it’s nice to get the win,” said DeBrincat, who also scored in regulation along with Tim Stutzle.

“It’s always fun to go in the shootout. Didn’t really know what I was going to do, I just winged it and it worked out. It’s nice to see the puck go in the net.”

The win snapped a three-game slide for the Senators (15-16-3) and was their first shootout of the season.

Jake DeBrusk and Paval Zacha scored in regulation for the Bruins with Zacha’s goal coming at 16:27 of the third period to tie the game 2-2. Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves for the Bruins (27-4-3).

“Hats off to Talbot. That was a fun goalie battle,” Swayman said.

The Senators had a 2-1 lead after two periods and a 21-20 shot advantage. The Bruins outshot the Senators 27-5 in the third.

“Our goal was to get better every period. I thought our first was OK, our second wasn’t as good. I give credit to Ottawa, but I thought our third, we really got to our game,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said.

“Talbot was incredible.”

The teams played through a scoreless first period despite a pair of breakaways by Senators forwards Brady Tkachuk and Stutzle.

In the second period, Patrice Bergeron appeared to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead, but a video review determined that the play was offside, and the game remained tied.

Stutzle did score a goal that counted when he beat Swayman from the right faceoff dot at 8:11 on the power play.

“I think we worked really hard, but without (Talbot) I don’t think it would have been possible. He kept us in the game the whole time. They had a lot of chances, but he was there when he had to be,” Stutzle said.

“I think everyone was pretty gassed at the end. We had four days off and couldn’t really skate. It was a great effort by the guys and I think we put everything on the line and had a lot of blocked shots, too.”

The Bruins got that goal back just over two minutes later as DeBrusk’s first shot was wide but hit the end boards and bounced back right onto his stick as he was about to circle the net. He had an empty net to deposit the puck as Talbot was moving the other way expecting the puck to come out the other side.

DeBrincat restored the lead for the Senators as he caught up to the puck at the top of the crease and delivered a chip shot over the shoulder of Swayman at 13:37 for a 2-1 lead.

Senators forward Drake Batherson assisted on both second-period goals and increased his point streak to 11 games. It’s the highest such streak since Jason Spezza had an 11-game streak in 2011-12.

OTTAWA, ON – Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith was far from impressed by his team’s effort late in a 3-2 overtime loss at home to the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

Marcus Johansson raced past Drake Batherson from centre ice, found an opening and fired the game-winner 2:04 into overtime.

“I just don’t like the way it ends,” said Smith. “You’ve got to check harder in overtime, you can’t give a breakaway. [Cam] Talbot did everything to hold us in there.”

Evgeny Kuznetsov and Sonny Milano also scored for the Capitals (18-13-4). Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his first start since sustaining an upper-body injury on Dec. 3.

“It’s nice to be back in the lineup, first of all, and then for a big team win, it makes it feel even better being back,” said Kuemper.

Alex Ovechkin, who had two assists, went without a goal for a fourth straight game as he sits one behind Gordie Howe for second on the NHL’s all-time career goals list.

“You just have to play through it,” said Ovechkin. “If I was playing out there and got zero chances, yeah, I would be worried. But I have chances. Their goalie played good and right now it’s important to get two points and keep moving in the standings.”

His six shots, however, moved him past Ray Bourque for most shots in league history with 6,210.

“It’s pretty cool,” admitted Ovechkin. “To be No. 1 in any category, it’s pretty special. I’ll take it.”

Talbot, who stopped 37 shots, was solid for the Senators (14-16-3), making a number of point-blank saves. Batherson and Alex DeBrincat scored for Ottawa.

The Senators finished the game with 10 forwards and five defenceman after losing Tyler Motte and Rourke Chartier in the first period to upper-body injuries. Ottawa also lost Jake Sanderson early in the third.

“It’s tough to beat those guys with a full bench and our guys battled back with three-quarters of one so it’s a gutsy point,” said Talbot. “Obviously when you leave a point on the table it doesn’t feel great.”

The Senators head into the Christmas break on a three-game skid following a four-game win streak.

“That was hard fought,” said Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. “Dealt with a lot of adversity today and thought we handled it well, but we wish we could have gotten that second point.

“It’s just how it is and you’ve got to move on from it, but yeah it’s a gutsy effort by a lot of guys tonight with all those injuries.”

Batherson tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal 3:04 into the third period to extend his point streak to 10 games (seven goals, seven assists).

Ovechkin looked poised to pick up goal No. 801 as he got a puck past Talbot, but Milano pushed it across the goal line at 5:25 of the second, to give the Capitals a 2-1 edge.

The Capitals had numerous chances to put the game out of reach, but Talbot made a number of big saves to keep the game close.

“I was just going out there trying to give us a chance,” said Talbot. “When guys go down like that you need some saves to keep you in the game and that’s all I was trying to do, is keep the guys in the game and give us a chance.”

Kuznetsov knotted the contest off a pass from Ovechkin on the power play 7:01 into the opening frame.

DeBrincat opened the scoring 4:50 into the first when he redirected Nick Holden’s point shot for his 10th of the season.

OTTAWA, ON – The Ottawa Senators are looking to take what they can get, however it comes.

Ottawa survived a late rally from the Montreal Canadiens and picked up its third straight win with a 3-2 victory Wednesday night. The win also put the Senators at .500 on home ice (8-8-0).

“We’ll take any win at this point,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “You’ve just got to keep clawing and scratching and clawing and grab as many points as you can and hope you get some guys back and keep this thing going.”

Shane Pinto, Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa (13-14-2), while Alex DeBrincat had three assists. Cam Talbot made 23 saves.

“Obviously they had a good push at the end, but we stay with it,” said Pinto. “Talbot made some good saves and we just stay calm, as much as we could. I know it got a little hectic there, but we got two points so that’s all that matters.”

The Canadian Tire Centre was electric with 19,567 in attendance, but it was often hard to tell who was the home team with numerous Montreal fans on hand.

“When you get both sets of fans in the building, it goes both ways,” admitted Talbot. “It’s pretty fun … these close knit rivalries are always good to be a part of and happy to come out on the winning end of this one.”

The Canadiens (14-13-2) rallied with a pair of third-period goals from Kirby Dach and Christian Dvorak, but were unable to score the equalizer. Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots.

In many ways, the Canadiens were their own worst enemy taking five minor penalties in the second, with the Senators capitalizing on two of them.

“Our discipline kind of slipped away in the second,” said Dach, who took a double minor late in the period. “I felt like 5-on-5, we were playing our game, we had control. … I obviously take ownership with the penalties I took. The timing of them wasn’t the best.”

“We were just on the penalty kill the whole period,” Dvorak added. “So, it’s tough when you’re doing that.”

Trailing 3-0 in the third, the Canadiens finally solved Talbot at 8:05 of the period, sending the partisan Montreal crowd into a frenzy. Dach glided into the slot and buried a goal off a Jake Evans pass.

The Canadiens made it a one-goal game when Dvorak beat Talbot on a delayed penalty call at 13:12 of the third.

Heading into the second period, the Senators trailed the Canadiens 10-6 in shots. But after 40 minutes, Ottawa not only held a 23-13 edge in shots, but a 3-0 lead.

Montembeault robbed Pinto on a point-blank shot, but moments later, the Senators forward took a great feed from Nikita Zaitsev and scored off the post 1:28 into the second.

Batherson made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 5:41 of the frame, when he scored through his own legs in front of the net. Tkachuk added Ottawa’s second power-play marker when he tipped home a DeBrincat pass just over two minutes later.

“I didn’t even know it was between the legs until the replay,” said Batherson. “I’ll take it any way they can come though.”

DeBrincat picked up primary assists on all three Ottawa goals to extend his point streak to seven games (three goals, seven assists). Batherson, meanwhile, pushed his point streak to six games (three goals, five assists).

The Canadiens dominated the opening ten minutes of the contest, but couldn’t find a way to beat Talbot.

Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis was visibly frustrated with the start his team had.

“We should have come out of the first with a solid lead,” he said.

OTTAWA, ON – Cam Talbot’s first shutout with the Ottawa Senators may be overshadowed by two devastating injuries.

Talbot earned the victory with an impressive 32-save shutout as the Senators blanked the Anaheim Ducks 3-0 on Monday. But forwards Tim Stutzle and Tyler Motte both left the win early with injuries, forcing Ottawa to play the rest of the game with only 10 forwards.

“We checked real hard,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “The NHL’s not meant for 10 forwards, but give guys credit.

“Guys played out of position, played different positions, played with different linemates and did a real nice job.”

Stutzle went awkwardly into the boards after being hit by Brett Leasonmidway through the first period and favoured his right arm as he raced down the player’s tunnel. Motte then went down hard late in the same period and suffered what the team called an upper-body injury.

Smith had no update on either player following the game.

“Timmy’s a big piece to this team,” said Claude Giroux, who was moved to Ottawa’s first power-play unit in Stutzle’s absence. “He’s one of our best players and I’m not too sure what the status is, but hopefully he’s fine.”

Alex DeBrincat had a pair of power-play goals for Ottawa (12-14-2) and Parker Kelly also scored to support Talbot’s shutout. The Senators goalie said he was partly inspired by a pre-game ceremony honouring former Ottawa defenceman Wade Redden, who became the first player named to the Senators Ring of Honour.

“I haven’t played my best here in front of our fans, but to go out there and do it on a night celebrating Redden in the Ring of Honour it’s a pretty special night for him so feels good to get the win for him too,” said Talbot.

Strangely enough both Talbot and DeBrincat were considered game-time decisions after neither took the morning skate.

“Who needs morning skates, right?” said Talbot with a laugh. “I mean (DeBrincat) didn’t skate either and he came out with two goals so I mean, I think they’re overrated.”

Goaltender Lukas Dostal made his season debut in net for the Ducks (7-19-3). He stopped 35 shots after being recalled from the American Hockey League’s San Diego Gulls.

“Coming from the AHL, you know, at the start, the game’s a little bit different,” said Dostal. “Took me maybe just a couple of minutes to adjust, but as the game went on, I felt pretty good out there, actually.

“Obviously, still upset we lost, but personally, I felt pretty good out there.”

The 22-year-old Dostal made a huge save on Shane Pinto in the second and bailed the Ducks out on a terrible line change late in the same period when the Senators had a 3-on-0 rush.

“(Dostal) played extremely well,” said Anaheim head coach Dallas Eakins. “He made a couple of huge saves. Just an absolutely horrible change in the second period and he made a huge one there, but he was real solid.

” He’s a great kid. He’s a kid that you can cheer for a lot just because of his character, his attitude, how he works.”

Kelly scored his first of the season 5:42 into the game, tipping a Nikita Zaitsev shot past Dostal.

DeBrincat extended his point streak to six games (3G, 4A) with a power-play goal midway through the first.

Redden, who is the first player to be honoured, joins the late Bryan Murray, a former Senators GM and head coach, in the Ring of Honour.

OTTAWA, ON — Brady Tkachuk is as competitive as they come, and he could hardly stomach the lacklustre effort his Ottawa Senators put together Tuesday night in a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

“There’s no explanation, there’s no excuses,” said the visibly frustrated Senators captain. “It’s unacceptable and it’s on us. We just weren’t ready.

“For us to come out that flat and screw (goalie Cam Talbot) like that is just unacceptable. That’s not good.”

The Senators (10-14-1) were coming off two impressive wins and had victories in four of their last five outings.

“Of course, we’ve been having some successes of late so maybe we thought it was going to be easy tonight, but there’s no easy game, there’s no easy moment in the NHL,” Tkachuk said. “It’s unacceptable, it’s as simple as that.”

The Kings (14-10-4) were led by Viktor Arvidsson who had two goals.

Matt Roy, Mikey Anderson and Kevin Fiala also had goals, and Anze Kopitar registered three assists for the Kings, who kicked off a six-game road trip.

Pheonix Copley made 31 saves in his first appearance for L.A.

The 30-year-old goalie has made just 26 starts but collected his third career win over the Senators on Tuesday.

“I felt good,” said Copley. “It was nice. The guys played well in front of me. It’s great to be in the win column.

“I thought (the team) played great, defensively. There were a lot of clears, a lot of blocked shots. If I left rebounds, they were taking care of them.”

Drake Batherson and Thomas Chabot each scored power-play goals for Ottawa, but the home team looked uninspired for long periods of play.

Talbot got chased from goal midway through the second period after allowing five goals on 14 shots. Anton Forsberg stopped all 14 shots he faced in relief.

The Senators were down 2-0 roughly two minutes into the first. Roy scored off a rebound, while Anderson scored from a sharp angle.

The Senators called a timeout and were able to cut the lead in half near the five-minute mark when Batherson roofed a Tim Stutzle rebound on a power play.

The Kings came right back and scored twice more before the end of the period to take a 4-1 lead.

Arvidsson scored his first of the night off a cross-crease pass from Trevor Moore on the power play and picked up his second just past the halfway mark of the period, beating Talbot with a wrister from the circle.

“I thought it was a complete game by everybody,” said Kings coach Todd McLellan. “We didn’t have to rely on just one or two people, starting with the goaltender. I thought he played really well and gave us some confidence.”

Senators coach D.J. Smith took full responsibility when asked why his team started so poorly.

“Just flat,” said Smith. “Gave up way too many chances, didn’t check hard enough. You know, that’s on me. Our preparation to start the game starts with me as the coach and that’s certainly unacceptable, but my job is to make sure these guys are ready to play.”

Batherson felt his coach was letting the team off the hook.

“It’s not on him,” Batherson said. “The game plan was there, and we as a group as players just weren’t ready to go. It has nothing to do with the coaches. They had the game plan all set for us, we just didn’t execute it well.”

The second wasn’t much better for the Senators as they failed to show any real urgency despite trailing 4-1.

The Kings padded their lead midway through the period with a power-play goal when Fiala picked up his ninth of the season.

Chabot picked up his second power-play goal in as many games midway through the third period. But the accomplishment was overshadowed by his team’s play.

“Everybody knows we weren’t ready to play and that’s something as a group that can’t happen,” said Chabot. “Every night we know the way we can play and have success and that’s what we have to do.”

The Senators are heading out for the annual father’s trip where they will face Dallas and Nashville. The dads were on hand for Tuesday’s game and Tkachuk anticipated a quiet ride home with his father by his side.

OTTAWA, ON – The Ottawa Senators seem to have found their footing.

Claude Giroux led the way with a pair of goals and an assist as the Senators picked up a solid 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks Saturday night. It was Ottawa’s second straight victory and fourth in its last five games.

“We were playing good hockey for a while and we weren’t getting the result … and when you don’t get the results, you start doubting the way we’re playing, but we just have to trust that the way we’re playing is going to work,” said Giroux.

“(Saturday) was a great example of you just have to stick with it.”

Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Thomas Chabot also scored for the Senators (10-13-1), while Anton Forsberg made 35 saves.

The team also gave full credit to the 17,101 on hand who were vocal from the start.

“Kudos to the fans and the crowd that gave us that energy,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “If it’s a dead crowd or maybe there’s not enough fans here tonight maybe we don’t find this gear. I think the guys felt that, right from the anthem on out.”

Ottawa especially benefitted from going an impressive 3-for-5 on the power play against the best penalty kill team in the league.

“You can’t take that many penalties against that team,” said Sharks coach David Quinn. “Some sloppy stick penalties that we can’t have. It’s frustrating because I thought there were some things in our game that I liked. We had some good chances we didn’t capitalize on.”

Tomas Hertl scored both goals for the Sharks (8-15-4), who are 1-2-0 so far through their four-game road trip that wraps up Sunday. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 34 shots.

“We find ways to lose,” said Sharks captain Logan Couture. “I’ve said that many times this year. Until we fix that, and find ways to start winning games, it’s not going to be going in the right direction.”

The Senators entered the contest on the heels of an emotional 3-2 overtime win against the New York Rangers Friday night. The Sharks, although having not played since Wednesday, did not look like the more rested team.

Ottawa scored its third power-play goal 5:18 into the third period when Mathieu Joseph fed Chabot to take a 4-2 lead.

Chabot is now up to three power-play goals on the season after entering the campaign with just three for his career. It was also his 200th career point, making him just the fourth Senators defenceman to reach the milestone.

“It’s something I’ve tried to change,” said Chabot of being more productive on the power play. “I think everybody around the league kind of got aware that I’m a pass-first kind of guy and this year I’ve tried to bring more pucks to the net and lucky enough they’ve been going in.”

The Senators’ final goal came as a result of an impressive sequence of events. The Sharks were on a 4-on-3 power play that consisted of numerous chances and Ottawa’s Travis Hamonic being without his stick at a point. But just as the power play expired, Giroux was able to break in alone and fire a slap shot past Kahkonen.

Forsberg made a number of incredible saves in the sequence leading to the goal.

“At the time you’re not really thinking about it too much,” admitted Forsberg. “I see the stick that’s broken and obviously that’s not good for us, but I thought we did a really good job of us just staying there and staying within our box and try to get as many passes as we could and then we got a good bounce and we scored so it was great.”

After trailing 2-1 to start the second, the Senators took a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

A brutal giveaway by Matt Benning put the puck on Giroux’s stick and he took full advantage for his 10th of the season at 5:22 of the second period.

Ottawa took the lead at 16:40 of the middle frame with its second power-play goal of the night thanks to a perfect touch pass from Drake Batherson to Stutzle.

Hertl netted his pair of goals in the first period to help the Sharks jump out to an early lead.

The Sharks centre beat Forsberg on the power play 7:26 into the frame to open the scoring.

Tkachuk tied the game with a power-play goal of his own at 10:25 of the period jumping on a rebound in front of Kahkonen.

Thirty-eight seconds later, Hertl scored his second when he was left alone in front and beat Forsberg to restore San Jose’s lead.

OTTAWA, ON – Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow gave New York a two-goal lead midway through the second period, and the Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Chris Kreider also scored and Ryan Lindgren had three assists to help the Rangers snap a three-game skid — including the last two in which they gave up multi-goal leads at home. Jaroslav Halak stopped 34 shots to get his first win with New York after starting 0-5-1 this season.

Shane Pinto scored and Cam Talbot finished with 33 saves as Ottawa snapped a two-game win streak and lost for the fourth time in six games. The Senators lost for the seventh time in their last eight at home.

Vesey opened the scoring for the Rangers at 10:34 of the first when he jumped on a rebound out front. It was his third of the season and first in nine games.

After an uninspiring first period, both teams raised the intensity level in the second.

The Rangers extended their lead to 2-0 at 10:52 when Lindgren’s shot deflected off Goodrow and in past Talbot.

Ottawa cut the deficit in half with Pinto’s ninth of the season with 6:13 remaining in the middle period. It was the New York native’s first career goal against the Rangers and first in nine games.

The Rangers regained their two-goal lead with 7:01 left in the third when Lindgren, who was left uncontested at the point, had his shot tipped in by Kreider, who was alone in front. It was Kreider’s team-leading 11th.

OTTAWA, ON — As captain of the Ottawa Senators, Brady Tkachuk was willing to take the blame for his team’s 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon.

The reality is the Senators just weren’t good enough against the NHL’s hottest team.

The Devils (15-3-0) have now won 12 straight and were better in every aspect of the game on this day.

“Disappointed overall with the way we played,” said Tkachuk. “We just weren’t ready to play from the start.

“For us as players it’s a Saturday afternoon, it’s close to a sellout, so it’s on us. It’s on us for not getting ready. It’s on me for not helping my group get ready so I’ll take responsibility for that one and there was times tonight when we played solid, played our game, but it wasn’t enough.”

Ottawa (6-10-1) has struggled of late, winning just twice in its last 11 (2-8-1). Late in the game a faint chant of “Fire D.J.” could be heard. Fans have been calling for the dismissal of head coach D.J. Smith the last couple of weeks.

“I see it all the time and I’m sick of the negativity towards that,” Tkachuk said. “It’s nobody to blame but ourselves, the players. We just weren’t ready to play today and that’t my job to get everybody ready and I’m sick and tired of seeing all this negativity on social media and all that. It’s not one person, it’s the group in here that needs to figure it out.”

The Devils took control when Erik Haula opened the scoring with a power-play goal early in the first period for his first of the season. Nathan Bastian made it 2-0 late in the first jumping on a rebound out front.

The Devils didn’t let up, making it 3-0 early in the second when Jesper Boqvist grabbed a puck out front putting an end to Anton Forsberg’s afternoon. The Senators goaltender allowed three goals on 18 shots.

“I thought tonight was a total team game,” said Devils head coach Lindy Ruff. “We got production, we got a key shorthanded goal from (Yegor) Sharangovich, but all four lines were in on it. I thought our defence played well and, again, our goaltender made some big saves at key times.”

Cam Talbot, who allowed one goal on 17 shots, made a huge save on Bastian late in the period and when Derick Brassard got the Senators on the board late in the period, it seemed like they were finally grabbing some momentum, but the Devils came right back scoring a shorthanded goal with 34 seconds remaining in the period.

“That’s the difference right there,” Tkachuk said of the short-handed goal. “Started with (Talbot) making that unbelievable save, (Brassard) getting the goal and then the power play has an opportunity to make it a one-goal game going into the third period. All the responsibility falls on us. That definitely deflated because you could feel the momentum swing in our direction and the fans getting back into it, but, yeah, that was a turning point.”

Michael McLeod added an empty-net goal late in the game to round out the scoring for New Jersey.

“We were just resilient,” said Haula. “There were a couple holes in our game, I thought, where we got a little bit comfortable and that’s when they kind of took it to us a little bit and got some chances, but overall, good for (Akira) Schmid, great game from him, and 12 in a row, we’ve got to feel good about this one.”

Schmid made 25 saves for the Devils.

The Senators now have the lofty task of trying to win out west where they will face San Jose, Vegas, Anaheim and Los Angeles.

“It’s huge for our season,” said Smith. “I think we’ve played a lot better of late. We’ve got four good teams out west to get ourselves together and you’re going to have to be good on the road.”

OTTAWA, ON – It wasn’t the most impressive victory but it was enough to give the struggling Ottawa Senators a boost of confidence.

The Senators (6-9-1) snapped a five-game home losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday night. Alex DeBrincat, Austin Watson, Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle, with an empty-net goal, scored for Ottawa.

“It brings a lot of confidence,” said Anton Forsberg, who made 29 saves. “The points haven’t gone our way so far so we have to keep building on it, trust the process and trust our game and stick with it no matter what happens and just keep on working.”

With a combined 14 minor penalties, both teams struggled to generate any real momentum. Ottawa took five penalties in the first period, but still managed to take a 1-0 lead into the break on Watson’s 50th career goal.

“I don’t think I’ve ever killed so many penalties in the first two periods of a game … but credit to our penalty killers starting with (Forsberg) who made some awesome saves,” said Watson. “Killing a couple off there early kind of gave us our mojo a little bit on the kill.

“That special teams battle is often times the difference in the game.”

The Sabres went 1-for-8 with the man advantage and only had a total of six shots on the power play. Tage Thompson scored the lone goal for Buffalo (7-10-0), which is now mired in a seven-game losing streak.

“Our power play didn’t look good tonight,” said Sabres head coach Don Granato. “Even after the entry, we hurried things, we forced things, we went individual too quickly. That’s something we have to take a quick look at.”

With plenty of missed chances, Buffalo knows it needs to keep things simple and not get up in the losses as the team tries to turn things around.

“I think we’re gripping the stick too much,” said defenceman Rasmus Dahlin. “We have our chances, but we can’t really execute right now. We need more swagger to our game. I don’t know how many chances, but we had a ton today.”

Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie, who stopped 22-of-24 shots, started the game but was replaced by Craig Anderson after being part of a collision midway through the second.

Anderson, who previously spent 10 seasons with Ottawa, returned to Canadian Tire Centre for the first time since parting ways with the Senators in 2020. He was honoured with a video tribute during the first intermission.

“I just tried not to be emotional,” admitted Anderson, who made 14 saves. “I spent a lot of time here, and seeing some of the memories, it was nice to kind of flash back on. It’s in the past. I definitely enjoyed it. A great part of my life, a great time in my life. I’m thankful for that. It was great to kind of relive the moment and kind of be remembered. It was nice.”

Trailing 2-1 to start the third, Buffalo pushed for the equalizer with JJ Peterka hitting the crossbar early in the period. However, DeBrincat made it 3-1 at 14:21 into the frame with his fifth of the season.

“One goal-game going into the third period and we did a good job and stuck with it the whole game so it’s a good win for us,” said DeBrincat. “It’s hard to get a flow when we’re always in the box or they’re in the box for that matter. It’s hard to get that five-on-five consistency, but I thought we did a good job sticking with it.”

After going 0-for-5 on the man advantage in the first period, the Sabres finally capitalized on their sixth power play to tie the game 1-1. Thompson fired a bullet from the faceoff circle for his team-leading 12th of the season 6:41 into the second.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s third period goal led the New York Islanders to a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators Monday night.

With just one victory in their last nine games (1-7-1), the Senators had been looking to build off a win against Philadelphia Saturday afternoon, but fell short.

They could easily throw their hands up in frustration, but forward Claude Giroux said the team is instead focusing on the positives.

“I think we did a lot of good things,” said Giroux. “We had a lot of chances, we played well offensively and I thought we were going to come back and tie it up.”

Ottawa had opportunities, but went 1-for-6 with the man advantage, scoring their lone power-play goal on a five-on-three.

“They have a good power play, but we were well-prepared and I thought the guys battled hard,” said Pageau. “A lot of sacrifice, a lot of blocked shots, a lot of battles that we won, and (Semyon Varlamov) in net was outstanding. He made some really amazing saves for us.”

Varlamov made 36 saves for the Islanders, while Brock Nelson, Noah Dobson and Oliver Wahlstrom also scored (11-6-0). Drake Batherson and Giroux scored for the Senators (5-9-1), as Cam Talbot stopped 31 shots.

Senators coach D.J. Smith couldn’t fault his team for its effort but said they need to take advantage of opportunities.

“It’s not for a lack of chances or effort,” said Smith.

“I think if you go back there’s going to be some grade “A” ones that [Varlamov] stops. That’s not going to happen every night. There’s going to be nights where the power play’s no good and it’s unorganized. That wasn’t the case. We’ve got to find a way to get the second one there on the power play and go 2-for-6 and then we have to kill the penalty in the third period.”

The Islanders took a 1-0 lead on Wahlstrom’s power-play goal midway through the first period.

Ottawa managed to tie the game during a brief two-man advantage midway through the second period. Batherson one-timed a pass from Tim Stutzle to score his second goal in 11 games.

The Islanders regained the lead late in the period when Ottawa failed to clear the puck, and Dobson was able to pick it up inside the blue line. The Islanders defenceman fired a puck that then deflected off Ottawa’s Mark Kastelic and past Talbot.

Leading 2-1 to open the third it was a familiar foe who gave the Islanders a two-goal lead midway through the period. Pageau, a fan favourite during his time in Ottawa, picked up a rebound in front and scored a power-play goal to make it 3-1.

Giroux then scored to cut the lead to one, 3-2, at the 13-minute mark off a behind-the-back pass from Brady Tkachuk.

With Talbot pulled for the extra man Ottawa looked for the equalizer, but Nelson scored an empty-net goal to seal the victory.

“We had two good chances at the end of the game, but there was lots of time left and we have to hold on to the puck and wait until there’s a breakdown,” said Giroux. “It’s something we’ve worked on, but something we have to keep working on.”

New York is now 6-0-0 for scoring the first goal of the game.

“It’s nice to score the first goal, that’s for sure,” said Islanders head coach Lane Lambert. “We’ve had some comebacks, too, but tonight I thought we did a really good job with the lead and it was really a character win. We fought through a lot of adversity tonight.”

A rare 5:30 p.m. start for the Senators allowed fans to watch Daniel Alfredsson’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The early start made for a small crowd, but they showed their respect for Alfredsson, who has spent 17 seasons with the Senators, by chanting his name at 11:11 of each period.

The induction was shown on the big screen following the game and numerous players joined fans to watch Alfredsson’s acceptance speech, including current Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.

“He’s a legend here and it was important for us to show our support to him and almost say thank you for everything he’s done for us,” said Tkachuk. “It’s an amazing accomplishment and achievement that he gets to celebrate with family and friends. It’s well deserved.”