Category: Sports

OTTAWA, ON — Brady Tkachuk scored the game-winning goal 25 seconds into overtime and the Ottawa Senators snapped a two-game skid, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 Wednesday night.

Alex DeBrincat, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Shane Pinto also scored for Ottawa (20-21-3), which went 4-for-9 on the power play.

Tkachuk added three assists and Cam Talbot stopped 16 shots.

Jason Zucker, Evgeni Malkin, Mark Friedman and Rickard Rakell responded for the Penguins (22-15-7). Casey DeSmith made 35 saves.

Tied 3-3 in the third period, the Senators scored their fourth power-play goal at 10:58 when Pinto beat DeSmith with a wrist shot.

Under two minutes later, Rakell replied for the Penguins with a power-play marker of his own to eventually send the game to overtime.

Tkachuk sent a backhand pass in front for Batherson, who knotted the contest at 3-3 9:19 into the second period.

Pittsburgh regained its lead at 3:07 of the middle frame when Friedman beat Talbot with a long-range shot.

Malkin tied the game at 2-2 when he jammed home a rebound from a Ty Smith point shot 15:23 into the opening frame.

Earlier in the period, Ottawa made the most of a double minor penalty against Jeff Carter, scoring twice on the four-minute power play.

Stutzle skated around Crosby and scored his 20th of the season at 9:44.

DeBrincat tied the game two minutes prior on a feed from Batherson.

Talbot got a piece of Marcus Pettersson’s shot, but the puck fell behind him and Zucker tucked it in to open the scoring 6:36 into the first.

OTTAWA, ON — Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist Monday as the Nashville Predators earned a hard fought 3-0 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Forsberg had the lone goal of the third period as he beat Cam Talbot in the Ottawa net at 7:30 and the Predators (19-14-6) won for the fourth consecutive game.

The story, however, was Predators’ netminder Juuse Saros who made 38 saves for his first shutout of the season and the 18th of his NHL career. He has stopped 102 of the 105 shots fired his way over his past two games following a 64-save performance in a 5-3 win over Carolina on Jan. 5.

Roman Josi and Jeremy Lauzon also scored for the Predators.

Talbot made 30 saves for the Senators (18-19-3), who have now lost two straight.

The Senators were playing a strong game and held an 11-5 advantage in shots through the opening 14 minutes of the first period.

How quickly things changed.

Within a 32-second span the Senators went from being in charge to in a hole as the Predators struck twice for a 2-0 lead.

Josi took advantage of a Senators turnover at their own blue line and put a chip shot over the shoulder of Talbot at 14:29. Lauzon redirected a Tanner Jeannot wraparound attempt into the Senators net at 15:01.

The Predators appeared to go up 3-0 later in the period but after video review the play was ruled offside.

The was no scoring in the second period although Brady Tkachuk appeared to get the Senators on the scoreboard, but after a challenge from the Predators, that play was also ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.

OTTAWA, ON — The Seattle Kraken won their fourth consecutive game on Saturday, showing the Ottawa Senators their improvement this season is no accident.

The Kraken defeated the Senators 8-4 as Jordan Eberle and Andre Burakovsky led the way with a goal and two assists each for the Kraken (22-12-4). The visitors got goals from eight different players and 13 had at least one point.

Justin Schultz, Matty Beniers, Vince Dunn and Daniel Sprong had a goal and an assist each. Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored for Seattle.

Martin Jones made 19 saves for his 18th win of the NHL season.

“I think the strength of this group is in the depth that we have. And that’s not just the forwards — it’s the defence, it’s the goalies. You see teams that have four lines and six (defencemen) who can contribute and that’s dangerous,” said Eberle.

“In my opinion, a lot of the teams that make the playoffs, it’s because of that (depth).”

The Senators (18-18-3) got three goals from Tim Stutzle and another from Brady Tkachuk as they had their modest two-game winning streak halted.

Anton Forsberg started in goal for the Senators but was pulled in favour of Cam Talbot 15 minutes into the game after allowing three goals on just five shots. Talbot turned aside 14 of 19 shots.

“There’s no excuses on my end. It was a tough night for both of us. We’ll both take the heat on this one. I know I can speak for (Forsberg) because he is as accountable as me,” Talbot said.

“You score four goals in a hockey game you should be able to make the rest of the saves to win the game. He’d be with me when I say we need to be better, and we will be.”

The Kraken led 5-3 to start the third but quickly made that a 7-3 lead on goals by Dunn and Eberle in the opening five minutes. Stutzle completed his hat trick at 5:20 of the period to pull the Senators to within three goals, but Burakovsky scored midway through the period for an 8-4 lead.

“If we play a certain style, regardless of who is in the lineup, we’re in the game every night. We did not play that style today,” Senators coach DJ Smith said.

“We’ve played a pretty good stretch of hockey here where we’ve played pretty well, but there are some guys that didn’t have it tonight and the chemistry wasn’t there.

“At the end of day you only win by playing hard defence in this league and we didn’t play nearly enough defence tonight to have a chance to win.”

The was no lack of scoring in the opening two periods as Seattle took a 3-1 lead into the second period and 5-3 lead into the third. The eight goals came on a combined 30 shots, 15 apiece.

The Kraken opened the scoring at 9:19 of the first period when Bjorkstrand beat Forsberg over the stick-side shoulder. Just 62 seconds later the Senators tied the game as Tkachuk split the defence and fired a shot over the glove of Jones.

The Kraken scored twice more in the opening 20 minutes as McCann scored at 12:53 and Schultz tipped a point shot past Forsberg at 15:13. That spelled the end of the night for Forsberg.

“We’ve been at our best when we’ve been able to roll four lines and not have a huge concern over each matchup. That’s the way our team is built,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.

“We’re asking everyone to contribute, play the right way, play with responsibility defensively. We weren’t air tight there tonight, but we were good enough at the right times.”

The Senators came out strong in the second period and got a pair of goals from Stutzle to tie the game 3-3. Stutzle scored a power-play goal at 6:35 and then chopped a rebound past Jones while falling at 8:34.

Just 22 seconds later Sprong gave the Kraken a 4-3 lead and took away any momentum the Senators were building.

“We did a good job battling back, we had all the momentum and I think the turning point was that next shot. If I make the save on the 2-on-1 it could have been a completely different game. I had to be better,” Talbot said.

Beniers increased that lead to 5-3 at 14:13. Beniers leads all rookies with 14 goals and 30 points this season.

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.