Category: Sports

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.”

OTTAWA, ON — The Vancouver Canucks got a bit of a reprieve Tuesday night, while the downward slide for the Ottawa Senators continued.

Bo Horvat scored twice as the Canucks came back twice from a goal down for a 6-4 win over the Senators in a battle of struggling NHL clubs.

Connor Garland had two assists in the win as the Canucks opened a five-game road trip with just their fourth win in 13 games.

“It wasn’t maybe the prettiest win, but we’ve had a lot of good games where we haven’t won this year. We owe a lot of thanks to our goaltender (Spencer Martin) tonight, for sure, especially in the first couple of periods, keeping us in it,” Horvat said.

“We’re just trying to be mentally tough. It’s been a mental grind for a lot of this year and a lot of mental lapses by us. I thought we stayed mentally strong tonight.”

Horvat scored from the top of the crease 1:16 into the third period to break a 2-2 tie and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored on the power play at 8:18 to give the Canucks a 4-2 lead. The goal was originally credited to Brock Boeser.

Tim Stutzle got a power-play goal at 14:03 to pull the Senators to within a goal at 4-3, but Jack Studnicka capitalized on an Ottawa turnover in their own end to give the Canucks a 5-3 lead at 14:59.

Claude Giroux scored to make the score 5-4 with another power-play goal for the Senators, this one at 17:09. Elias Pettersson ended the late madness with an empty-net goal at 19:15.

Ilya Mikheyev also scored for the Canucks (4-6-3), while Martin made 37 saves for the win.

The Senators (4-8-0), who have now lost six straight, got their other goals from Drake Batherson and Travis Hamonic along with a 22-save performance from Cam Talbot.

“We have to work for our breaks, work for our chances and bear down. That’s all we can do,” Hamonic said.

“We’re scoring some goals, we just have to buckle down on our opportunities, not just offensively but defensively as well when we get the chance to make the right play.”

The Senators put in a dominating performance in the second period that included a 19-8 advantage in shots, but it was the Canucks who scored the lone goal of the period.

Mikheyev tied the game 2-2 at 13:50 of the second as he took a pass from Quinn Hughes and beat Talbot in tight.

“We just didn’t get the job done. We looked very confident in the second period. We looked very confident in the first period, but then when you get into the third period we just didn’t make the plays we needed to make. We turned pucks over and we gave them two goals,” Senators coach DJ Smith said.

“We probably could have scored four or five in the second and we didn’t. We have to stick to it if you want to get out of this.”

The beginning and the end of the first period were hectic as the Senators scored in the opening minute while both teams netted a goal in the final minute.

After Alex DeBrincat beat out an icing call he got the puck behind the net and found Batherson alone for the game’s first goal just 50 seconds in.

“I’ve been in those situations a ton of times before. I didn’t get here laying down. Just kind of kept it going with some confidence,” Brown said about not letting the quick goal get to him.

The teams went scoreless for much of the period after that until Horvat tied the game for the Canucks at 19:07. The tie was short-lived as Hamonic beat Martin with a point shot just 16 seconds later.

OTTAWA, ON — Claude Giroux scored a milestone goal against his former team, but the Philadelphia Flyers spoiled the celebration with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday night.

The game was Giroux’s first against his former team, but he doesn’t have much to boast about as the loss now has the Senators (4-7-0) mired in a five-game losing streak.

Giroux’s goal was the 300th of his career. He has now scored a goal against every team in the NHL.

The former Flyers captain said he was not happy about the loss, “but I’ll wake up tomorrow and it is what it is.”

“We’re in a little hole, but I’ve been in bigger holes before and come out of it, so right now I’m very frustrated, but not worried about it,” Giroux said.

Facing off against their former captain was a little odd, but also satisfying for the Flyers to come out with a win.

“To be honest, I’ve been in those situations before,” said Kevin Hayes. ”(Giroux) is a close friend of mine, it might be a little different for him, but it’s not really for me. I’m playing for the Flyers. That’s the team I want to win.”

Zack MacEwen’s second-period goal held up as the winner, while Kevin Hayes also scored for the Flyers (6-3-2). Carter Hart was solid stopping 31 shots.

Giroux scored the lone goal for the Senators, while Cam Talbot, making his first start for the Senators, made 26 saves.

Trailing 2-1 in the third, Ottawa had a chance for the equalizer after Travis Sanheim was called for interference on Giroux at the 13-minute mark, but failed to capitalize on the power play.

The Senators will look at the second period as a missed opportunity. Ottawa had three power plays and failed to take advantage or create many scoring chances.

The Flyers broke the 1-1 tie with just under two minutes remaining in the second period when Ottawa got hemmed in its own end. MacEwen grabbed a loose puck and wristed it past Talbot.

The lead didn’t last long as the Flyers evened the score with a power-play goal as Hayes tipped a Tony DeAngelo shot.

“It comes down to special teams” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “They score on their power play and we go 0-for-5. The game’s on the line and you get a power play in the third period. We’ve got to find a way to put it in.”

OTTAWA, ON — Although moral victories don’t appear in the win column, the Ottawa Senators seemed to have taken one in finding their desired identity and level of play.

Despite a valiant comeback effort, the Senators fell 5-4 to the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday night. Ottawa trailed 5-1 at the midway mark of the second period before finding its way back and just falling short of tying the game up late.

“If you play like the way we played in the second and third period you’re going to win a lot of games,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “There’s no such thing as moral victories in sports, but you get that effort from the guys that we got tonight and you’ll start winning a lot of hockey games.”

“That’s the identity we want to play with, is the second and third there,” added Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk, who had two assists. “Unfortunately, we just got down too much where we couldn’t come back from. That second and third period I think is some of the best hockey we played all year … there’s a lot of positives to take from tonight.”

The Senators (4-6-0) are now on a four-game losing streak while the Knights’ (10-2-0) victory makes it six in a row for them.

Mark Stone, Reilly Smith, Zach Whitecloud, Chandler Stephenson and William Carrier each scored for Vegas. Logan Thompson made 42 saves for the Knights.

Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle both recorded a pair of goals for Ottawa. Anton Forsberg allowed all five goals on 19 shots before Cam Talbot, making his season and Senators debut, came in and made 13 saves.

“We just let them off the hook,” said Stone. “I think we just kind of thought the game was over. We started trying to make plays, and if you look at the goals we’re scoring, we’re getting on the forecheck, making them make turnovers, and then we fell into that trap and started doing it to ourselves.

“You definitely want to learn from it. That was not a perfect game from us by any means.”

Stone opened the scoring against his former team just 1:22 into the game, picking up a loose puck in front and scoring.

Under three minutes later, Giroux had a fortunate bounce work in his favour.

Looking to go off on a line change, Giroux shot the puck from just over centre ice and scored as the bounce of the puck fooled Thompson.

“I’ve probably tried that over 500 times in my career and it never went in,” said Giroux. “When it went in, it was overdue. I get pretty excited when I see a goal like that.”

Smith added a power-play goal at the midway mark of the period. With just 31.6 seconds remaining in the first, Stone made a cross-crease pass to Whitecloud for his first of the season to give Vegas a 3-1 lead.

Stephenson’s short-handed goal made it 4-1 for the Knights just over five minutes into the second. A few minutes later, a brutal giveaway by Alex DeBrincat allowed Carrier to walk in alone on Forsberg and beat him through the legs.

That marked the end of Forsberg’s night.

However, the Senators managed to pull within two by the end of the period.

As the power play was expiring, Jake Sanderson made a cross-ice pass to Giroux who made it 5-2 with his second of the night at 14:23.

With less than two minutes remaining in the period, Thompson thought he had stopped a Tkachuk shot, but the puck trickled through his pads and Stutzle pushed it over the goal line for his second of the season.

Ottawa made it a one-goal game 2:34 into the third when Stutzle took advantage of a Knights turnover and played a give-and-go with Tkachuk before scoring his second of the night.

Vegas had an opportunity to pad its lead on a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 59 seconds, but Talbot made two huge saves for the Senators.

“That was a big point in the game,” Talbot said of the two-man advantage. “At that point not a lot of action so far and I just went out there and battled with the three guys in front of me. So that’s all you can really do when the power play is snapping like that — is just stay patient as possible and throw your body in front of it when you can.”

OTTAWA, ON – Call it a missed opportunity.

The Ottawa Senators had the chance to sweep their five-game homestand, but instead fell 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

Trailing 3-2 late in the game, the Senators (4-3-0) couldn’t capitalize on a late power play as pulling the goalie for an extra attacker failed to give them the advantage they were hoping for.

“We get eight points out of 10, but I just think we let one slip a little bit here tonight,” said Ottawa coach D.J. Smith. “Take nothing away from them, but you know you’d like to get a point. You’ve got your six best guys out there at the end and if we find a way to score there, you’re in overtime and maybe you steal one.”

Alex DeBrincat and Thomas Chabot each scored for the Senators. Anton Forsberg, who had missed Monday’s game with an undisclosed ailment, stopped 36 shots.

Coming into Thursday’s game, Ottawa had outscored its opponents 22-11 during its four-game winning streak.

Frederick Gaudreau scored his first of the season into an empty net to secure the victory for the Wild. Ryan Hartman’s first of the year in the second period proved to be the winner. Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov also scored for Minnesota (3-3-1).

Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves in the victory.

“I really liked the way that all four lines contributed in their own way, but yet they all contributed in the same way as far as doing the right things, getting pucks deep, staying on the right side, not allowing odd man rushes,” said Wild coach Dean Evason. “I don’t remember an odd man rush tonight. We were committed to doing the right things, and we did.”

Ottawa found success early in the third when it made the most of a two-man advantage. Just over four minutes into the period, DeBrincat found a wide-open Chabot for his second goal in as many games.

The Wild dominated the second period.

Minnesota controlled play for much of the period, outshooting the Senators 17-8. Hartman scored his first of the season to make it a 3-1 game 4:25 into the frame.

“They came out hard,” said Forsberg. “We know how they play. They play hard and spend a lot of time in our zone and throw a lot of pucks at the net.

“I didn’t think I did quite a good job myself to have those rebounds, there was a bit too many for me I think. I want to hold on to those to give the guys a break so I’m not really happy with that.”

Fleury made key stops when Ottawa did have chances, including three huge saves late in the period with the Senators on the power play.

“He’s done it for 20 years now, so it’s not surprising,” said Zuccarello. “I played a lot against him through the years. He’s been unbelievable for us.”

DeBrincat opened the scoring 3:47 into the first, beating Fleury glove side. The Wild answered scoring twice to finish the period leading 2-1.

With Forsberg screened, Zuccarello had a clear lane for his fifth of the season 7:53 into the frame. Kaprizov gave the Wild the lead with 1:36 left in the period, tipping Jared Spurgeon’s point shot.

Fleury preserved the lead with a glove save on DeBrincat with 17 seconds remaining in the period.

The two had been teammates in Chicago last season. The mutual respect between the two made the save that much better for Fleury.

“Yeah, he got that first one, I owed him,” said Fleury. “Sometimes it’s worse when it’s guys that you played with, right? You kind of know their tendencies, but they know that you know.

“So, they switch it up or whatever. I just tried to react and stay patient. But he’s obviously a very talented player.”

DeBrincat could only look up in disbelief after Fleury made the save, but in many ways wasn’t totally surprised.

“Like I said, he never gives up on the play,” DeBrincat said. “I’ve definitely seen that a couple times. I thought I had him beat and he was there to stop it, so you know, sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap and he made a good save there.”

OTTAWA, ON – One man’s misfortune is another man’s big break. Such was the case for Magnus Hellberg on Monday.

After starting netminder Anton Forsberg was ruled out of the game due to injury, Hellberg came in to make just the third start of his NHL career. The first came almost nine years ago to the day.

All Hellberg did on Monday was make 29 saves as the Senators defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2.

“I’ve been waiting to get a start for a couple of weeks now, so obviously it was nice to finally be in net,” said Hellberg, who signed a contract with the Senators during the summer after spending the previous five seasons in the KHL.

“I have that inner drive to play at the best level and I feel that I can play in this league as a full-time job. Obviously I’m really happy that it worked out this summer and that I’m able to play in this league.”

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, while Shane Pinto scored in his fifth consecutive game in the win.

“It’s just going in for me right now. It’s getting pretty lucky but I’m just happy we found a way to win that one. That was another mature win by us and we just have to keep it rolling,” said Pinto, who is the first Senators’ rookie to score in five straight games.

Derick Brassard also scored in his season debut giving the Senators a 4-1 lead. Thomas Chabot had the other goal as the Senators (4-2-0) won for the fourth straight time.

The Senators were perfect on the penalty kill shutting down the Stars on their three chances. Killing those penalties was huge according to Senators coach DJ Smith.

“I thought our penalty kill was the difference and it settled us down. We started getting composure, got a little more emotionally involved and physical,” he said.

During their four-game winning streak the Senators have outscored the opposition 10-1 in the third period.

“We understand how hard we have to work in a game to get to the third period and not be down. I thought we worked really hard in the second to set that up,” Smith said.

Tkachuk had given the Senators a 2-1 lead five minutes into the third before Pinto made it 3-1 just under six minutes later.

Joel Kivirianta scored at 6:31of the first period and Wyatt Johnston scored late in the third to cut the Senators lead to 4-2. The Stars (4-1-1) recorded the first eight shots of the game as they came out hard at Hellberg, who had only made two previous NHL starts.

“I liked our start. I thought we came out of the gate really good. I thought as the game wore on, their commitment and energy increased and ours decreased, so we’ll have to look at why,” said Stars coach Peter DeBoer.

“But you have to give them credit. They were the hungrier team for most of the game tonight. Tough to win in this league when that’s the case.”

The Stars maintained their 1-0 lead late into the second period before Chabot ripped a point shot past Wedgewood at 19:23 of the period while the Senators were enjoying their third power play of the period.

Wedgewood was a wall stopping all 22 shots he faced up to that point. Hellberg was just as impressive at the other end of the ice with 20 saves as the game went into the third tied 1-1.

OTTAWA, ON – Home has been pretty sweet for the Ottawa Senators early in this NHL season.

After starting the campaign with two road losses, the Senators have won three straight home games while scoring 18 goals in the process.

The latest win came Saturday as three third-period goals lifted the club to a 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. The win meant a little more for Senators’ forward Mark Kastelic, as he was playing against his hometown team for the first time, and he scored a goal.

“It was pretty special to play against them for the first time,” the native of Phoenix said.

“I skate with a lot of those guys in the summer, and it was just kind of a full circle moment for me and my parents as well. They came in from Arizona and it’s really exciting that we got the win, but we have to put it behind us now and look forward.”

Brady Tkachuk had two goals for the Senators (3-2-0) while Tyler Motte and Shane Pinto each had a goal and an assist. Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle each had two assists. It was the line of Kastelic, Austin Watson and Parker Kelly that had coach DJ Smith talking after the game.

“That’s a line for us that plays north-south and gets us playing emotionally the right way. I think they did a heck of the job in the third,” Smith said. “The do it right, they go 100 miles an hour and they don’t give any time and space. They’re good at what they do.”

The Senators scored twice in the opening period as Shane Pinto and Josh Norris found the back of the net behind Karel Vejmelka. But the Coyotes (1-5-0) responded with two goals of their own in the second period, sandwiched around a goal by Tkachuk.

Dylan Guenther scored his first NHL goal at 1:40 of the first period to get the Coyotes on the board, and after the Tkachuk goal at 3:35, Clayton Keller responded just 22 seconds later to pull the Coyotes to within one at 3-2.

“They were super stoked,” Guenther said of his teammate’s reaction to his goal. “I think it’s pretty cool when they’re just as excited as you are. And it’s nice for me, too, to get one here. I’ve been getting a lot of chances.”

Kastelic, Motte and Tkachuk scored in the third period to help the Senators pull away.

“I thought we played pretty sloppy in the second period. First period we had some jam, then we took some bad penalties and got out of rhythm on the four-on-fours, turned some pucks over and didn’t do, to me, what we had been doing,” Smith said.

“But give credit to the leadership, whatever they said between the second and third, they corrected that.”

Andre Tourigny, who coached the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s for three seasons before becoming the Coyotes’ head coach in 2021, was happy with the effort if not the result.

“I thought we played solid in the first period. We had a lot of pressure and urgency. We didn’t score but I don’t think the period was that bad. We played a really good second period obviously and I think in the third they got opportunistic and that was the game,” said Tourigny, who was also an assistant with the Senators in 2015-16.

“All the way through the game the guys stayed focused, the stayed together, they battled hard. I think it was a step in the right direction for us as far as attitude, effort commitment and focus.

“Obviously we have to clean up a few things defensively, but if the attitude stays and effort stays like that there’s brighter days ahead.”

OTTAWA, ON – No one can blame Shane Pinto for having some fun these days.

The Ottawa Senators centre’s third goal in as many games proved to be the winner in a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals Thursday night. Pinto’s goal was the third of five unanswered goals after the Senators were down 2-0 after the first period.

He was held to just five games last season due to a shoulder injury but is more than making up for lost time with a strong start to the season. During his many months of rehab last season, Pinto admitted he pictured himself being able to make a difference.

“Just to play a game, that’s all I wanted to do,” said Pinto. “But definitely to help the team win, that’s what I wanted to do coming in to this year, but I definitely visualized this.”

Drake Batherson scored a pair of power-play goals, while Tyler Motte and Alex DeBrincat added empty-net goals for their first with the Senators. Anton Forsberg stopped 22 shots in the win.

It’s the first time since January 2017 that Ottawa (2-2-0) defeated Washington at home.

T.J. Oshie and Anthony Mantha scored for Washington (2-3-0) in the opening period on the power play. Darcy Kuemper made 39 saves.

“I feel like the first 20 1/8minutes 3/8 we were chipping pucks with speed, going on the forecheck and turning pucks over,” said Oshie. “By the end of the first, I thought we’d backed them up a little bit. I believe we had some entries just by carrying the puck.

“We were shooting, we were supporting each other, and that kind of just went away. I don’t know, maybe they tired us out or we got a little overconfident with the puck, or whatever it was.”

Ottawa took its first lead of the game 5:53 into the third as Tyler Motte found a trailing Pinto who scored on a wrist shot from the slot to put the Senators up 3-2.

Moments later, Forsberg made a huge save on Marcus Johansson to preserve the lead.

“I just tried to get something over there and I was kind of lucky it hit my glove,” said Forsberg. “I mean obviously that’s one of the saves you want to make as a kid so it’s always nice.”

While they didn’t make it to the scoresheet, the trio of Mark Kastelic, Austin Watson and Parker Kelly were instrumental to the Senators victory.

All three were physical and rattled the Capitals early in the second period and generated the energy the Senators lacked in the first period.

“Those couple shifts there I was like, “Oh my God what a hit, oh my God what another hit,” said Batherson. “There was like six in a row there, so it was great. We love that. All three of those guys bring a ton of energy and got the boys going.”

Trailing 2-0 after a lacklustre first period, the Senators were able to square things up on a pair of power-play goals of their own.

Batherson scored his second goal in as many games off a pass from Brady Tkachuk 5:48 into the second period.

Less than two minutes later, Thomas Chabot fired a shot from the point and Batherson was able to jump on the rebound in front to beat Kuemper for his second of the night.

“It’s a different team here and there’s more maturity, and they’re able to be more composed and they’re able to turn it up another gear,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “Clearly we weren’t at the gear we wanted to be, but give that dressing room credit. Those guys, you know what they did is got themselves ready for the second and third.”

The Capitals struggled to generate much momentum in the second and were outshot 15-5 by the Senators.

“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times with the puck,” said Capitals coach Peter Laviolette. “The first period, we did exactly what we wanted to do. We put the puck north, we put it behind them, we’re in the offensive zone, we’re delivering pucks at the net. The second period and third period, we played east-west hockey, we didn’t deliver any pucks. Not good enough.”

Washington got going early scoring a pair of power-play goals to take the lead in the first.

The Capitals had a two-man advantage for 72 seconds and Johansson fed Oshie to open the scoring midway through the period.

Mantha scored 24 seconds later with a shot from the point to go up 2-0.

OTTAWA, ON – The Ottawa Senators provided plenty of entertainment in their home opener Tuesday night with a 7-5 win over the Boston Bruins.

Mark Kastelic’s first of the season in the second period held up as the winner, but the fun started before the puck even dropped.

Things got underway with former Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson on hand for the ceremonial puck drop sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy and the noise grew as the newly acquired Claude Giroux, who calls Ottawa home, opened the scoring in the opening minutes of the game.

All four lines contributed for the Senators. Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle each had a goal and two assists. Shane Pinto and Artem Zub also scored for Ottawa (1-2-0).

Coming into the home opener, Ottawa had only scored three goals through its first two games. Anton Forsberg stopped 26 shots.

David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron led the way for the Bruins (3-1-0) with a goal and two assists each. David Krejci, Nick Foligno and A.J. Greer also scored. Jeremy Swayman made 26 saves.

Leading 6-5, Zub added some security midway through the third when he picked up his own rebound earning a deafening ovation from the 19, 811 on hand.

Krejci and Greer scored in a span of 62 seconds to tie the game 3-3 by the two-minute mark of the second period.

Ottawa went on to score three goals to make it 6-3. Pinto made the most of a two-on-one to have a wide-open net. The Senators then took advantage of some poor defensive coverage by the Bruins with Stutzle picking up his first of the season when he was left alone out front. Anton Stralman then had a brutal giveaway behind his net allowing Austin Watson to feed Kastelic out front.

But the Bruins came back with another pair of goals to make it 6-5 by the end of the period. Foligno buried a rebound by crashing to the net and with 14.5 seconds remaining in the period Pastrnak connected for a power-play goal.

Ottawa couldn’t have asked for a better start. Giroux scored his first with the Senators in the opening minutes of the game and two minutes later Stutzle fed a cross-ice pass to Tkachuk for his second of the season.

Batherson had a goal called back midway through the period due to goaltender interference but got it back a couple of minutes later when Tkachuk found him out front.

Bergeron banged in a Pastrnak rebound to make it 3-1 late in the first period.